


the scent of lavender. | lee felix & kim seungmin

by jeonginks



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 13:47:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19442656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeonginks/pseuds/jeonginks
Summary: And here is what happens when you ditch class to head into the woods because your best friend suspects he has magical powers and you both pulled a werewolf from the ground.





	the scent of lavender. | lee felix & kim seungmin

**Author's Note:**

> I… have nothing to say for myself. this is really long and honestly, I don’t know how many people are dedicated enough to read the whole word vomit. I’m just happy to give these three kids a chance to live through words. And I hope you enjoy if you do plan to read. Thank you.

Felix should have never followed Seungmin out to the woods this morning.

He should have stayed in the bus and headed to school like everybody else, with a single piece of toast stuck between his front teeth and his hand busily combing through his messy hair as he glanced at the bus window for his own reflection.

But no, he got off three stops too early under his best friend’s persuasion and walked a mile through open roads and sketchy alleyways, taking far too many turns before they stopped before the unofficial entrance of the woods located at the outskirts of their town.

Felix didn’t even have the time to process what Seungmin was hastily trying to tell him so early in the morning. His hands were occupied with the dark green leather covered journal—one of the many few, Felix heard—left for Seungmin by his father who was already a couple of years dead.

But Felix supposed it was why Seugnmin was so intrigued by the dusty box of journals hidden inside the locked shelf even his own mother wasn’t able to unlock. Because it took him seven years to stumble upon such a stack of knowledge of self-discovery.

“He wrote it here, look! Dad said he came from a family of warlocks and witches!” Seungmin informed in annoyance after Felix asked about the situation for what seemed to be the nth times. He flipped open the journal as he slowed down to match up with a dully looking Felix, whose eyes tried to focus on the constantly moving pages while Seungmin attempted to point at a certain place.

Just jabbing his fingers at it. Real excited there, Kim Seungmin.

Felix clicked his tongue in irritation, the morning haze still hadn’t faded from his tired senses. With a quick snatch, he took the journal away and read the page himself, mouthing each word written on top of the rough parcel papers only to realize he was going to get nothing out of any of the information written by the all too mysterious man who used to buy him ice cream and read them bedtime stories during sleepovers.

Come to think of it, Seungmin’s father was indeed quite the enigma, but not in the way where he never sees him around the house with Seungmin. It was the kind of enigmatic where it felt like he knew too much of what the world really was but he didn’t appear to be that way, and it was just the slightest bit confusing for Felix.

“You ever think maybe he is lying?” Felix asked, walking along an unknown trail of the forest, siding stepping mud puddles and hopping over little bushes of lively flowers.

“Unlikely. No one has ever read those journals before. Like I told you, not even my mom knows how to open the drawer where he hid the box,” Seungmin said, turning around and walking backward as he smiled informatively at Felix, “I was convinced the second it locked when I touched the handle. I just touched it and it popped open. I mean, is that not magic?”

“It can be technology. I wouldn’t be surprised coming from your home.”

“Fine. How do you explain the journals unread then? He is lying to no one, it was for no personal gain.”

“Your dad is a pathological liar,” Felix suggested, only realizing how dumb he sounded a second later. He knocked his head a few times lightly, his expression thoughtful like he was trying really hard to crank up an excuse to defeat Seungmin’s purpose so they could just go back to school. “Maybe this is a deliberate lie? To prank you?”

“My dad would never plan a prank he can’t see the result to,” Seungmin deadpanned. “Can’t you just admit that he comes from a family of supernaturals?”

“Sure, yeah. But what about it? Do you think you inherited the magic powers, the magic powers you still haven’t discovered even though you’ve lived seventeen years of your life?” Felix asked with a doubtful and critical tone. “You don’t think maybe you would be the oddball of the family–woah!”

Seungmin turned around abruptly at the sound of his best friend’s clumsy yelp. He was planning to ignore Felix for the rest of the trip due to how dramatically pessimistic he was being but at the sudden thud of Felix’s leg being stomped on the ground as he attempted to regain his composure, Seungmin turned around with a mildly shocked expression that quickly turned into a look of neutral disappointment.

“Did you trip on air?” Seungmin asked, deciding he would walk over to stand by Felix’s side as said boy squinted his eyes at the exact spot he tripped.

Confusion clouded Felix’s mind when he recalled the exact moment he felt himself jolt forward. He would know if he tripped on his own feet, or on thin air. It was a simple crack of his toes or a small slap to his ankle when he was being a klutz. What just happened wasn’t a mere act of clumsiness, his leg went against something buried within the pile red and yellow leaves.

Bending down to examine the pile closely, his eyes widened a fraction when he found a sparkling object shining behind the thin gaps, reflected by the sun and shining on his face. Walking forward, Felix reached his hands out to brush away the pile of leaves carefully just in time to reveal a small emerald colored ring lying within the dirty soil.

Seungmin approached him then, looking absolutely disgusted when Felix dug in with his bare hands, simply shifting away the dirt as if germs and bacteria didn’t exist. He looked away from him, blinking up at the sky that had finally turned bright and blue. And being still annoyed at Felix’s previous pessimism, he planned to urge his best friend to move to a more open space to test out his magic.

That was until Felix let out a fearful scream as he stumbled back and fell on his hip. Seungmin jumped back a few steps, his head snapping over to look at Felix with wide, alert eyes.

Felix was crawling back, scrambling up with his index finger pointed towards the spot he was just looking through. His voice was higher than normal due to shock, the calming sound of the deep ocean long gone from his very throat after the startling sight he discovered, and his hand trembled as he struggled to form a coherent sentence.

Just jabbing his finger at it. Real scared there, Lee Felix.

“Ha–hand! There is ring–a ring! And the dirty hand is wearing the ring! The hand–There is a hand there, someone’s hand! There is a per–a dead person under the dirt!” He stuttered out, “I tripped on hand! I tripped on a hand! I tripped on a dead person’s hand–I’m so sorry!”

Seungmin, having not actually seen the flesh himself, was nothing more but confused and uncomfortable. Felix wasn’t one to act this well so he must be telling the truth. But despite that, he found the situation far too coincidental.

He was out here trying to see if he has magical powers he discovered a few years too late and Felix just happened to trip on a body that had been buried in the woods for who knows how long? No fucking way.

With a soft groan, Seungmin placed a hand on Felix’s shoulder to calm him down before he turned to look at the spot, just staring at it in contemplation. He wasn’t sure whether he should go ahead and check for himself or if he should quickly call the sheriff to take care of this.

Against his own assumptions, that could be an actual dead body instead of some magical being buried down there, and he wasn’t one to be disrespectful just walking up there and moving things around to see.

“Look, let’s just call the sheriff, they will know how to–ah! What the fuck!”

It was Seugnmin’s turn to be startled off his feet when he caught the hand shoot up from within the ground. If it weren’t for Felix’s quick reaction, he would have long fallen down and stained his clean school uniform with wet soil.

He and Felix shared a look when the fingers curled and the bits of dirt fell off the hand. Now that they had a clearer look, the hand appeared rather small and young. It was dirty, for sure, but the skin was smooth like a young person’s hand would be. Not rough, no wrinkles, just plain healthy skin that would reveal itself as soon as they wash off the dirt.

“What should we do… is that person alive?” Felix asked, looking at the hand with wide eyes, “I mean… if we don’t help them, they’re going to suffocate down there, and that would make us the culprit right?”

“Don’t be stupid, there are circumstances to these things. We are taking precaution because what if the hand kills us?” Seungmin waved his hand, his eyes still training on the hand unmoving in mid-air. His lips pursed together in thoughts once again, wondering if he should listen to his gusts and give the hand… a hand. “I… I kind of want to help.”

“You do?” Felix asked, “You really do?”

“No, I don’t, that’s why I said I want to help,” Seungmin rolled his eyes, “Yes, I want to. Let’s do it. I mean, what’s the worse that could happen?”

“Uh, you just said it yourself, Seungmin. The hand killing us?” Felix retorted.

“Yeah, yeah, come on, just give me a hand,” Seungmin moved forward, waving his hand in a beckoning way to ask Felix to tag along.

The two of them approached the hand, hovering around it carefully to give themselves enough space to help but also enough distance to have a head start if they needed to run away. Each wrapping a hand around the wrist of the unknown hand, they simultaneously pulled on a silent count to three.

Within the midst of the foggy state of your mind, you could feel a harsh tug at your hand before your body was jolted upwards. A whiplash of sunlight blinded your close-eyed vision and you shut them tighter for the first time. Upon the realization of your newfound control over your body, you snapped your eyes open without accessing your surroundings.

The tingly sensation of your muscle movements engulfed you whole as you tried moving for the first time, cracking your bones by moving your fingers and twisting your neck. The pops and cracks made Seungmin and Felix flinch as they removed their hands together and stood back to give you an overall scan.

Finally regaining your consciousness, you gritted your teeth in concentration and looked around the woods. The season has changed but you could faintly remember the scent and the feeling of the forest—from the humidity that made the hair on your skin stand to the lingering scent of a past thunderstorm stained on top of the dead leaves on the ground—back when you were still moving and alive,

Your eyes finally settled on the two boys cowering in front of you, curiously yet horrified at what they have come to discover on what was supposed to be another normal school day. You could see it on their faces, they weren’t exactly trying to hide how they felt about pulling a living person—if you were a person—out from the ground. But other than that, you found yourself sniffing out their emotions too, strong and clear like you were all close and personal with them.

“Well, where is your juju magic now?” Felix asked in a hushed tone, leaning forward to Seungmin’s ear to give it more secrecy.

You looked at him, hearing him loud and clear, “What does that mean? What is juju magic?”

“They can hear us,” Seungmin said, more so a statement than a question. He looked at Felix briefly, side-eyeing his best friend who was starting to calm down when he saw that you didn’t seem to be doing any harm, “And if I wasn’t hallucinating, I swear I saw fangs in their mouth.”

Felix let out a sardonic chuckle, his eyes rolling skyward in a quick movement as he processed Seungmin’s words, “What are you trying to say? That we picked out a vampire from the grave?”

“No, no, their eyes were gold for a second before,” Seungmin pointed out, pointing at you, who was too busy trying to understand them. Felix snorted in disbelief, unable to fathom how Seungmin was catching glimpses of everything he wasn’t looking in time to see.

With his hand on his chin, Seungmin muttered a few words under his breath, seemingly recalling the pages of his father’s journals he spent nights after nights reading under the tiny spark of his night lamp after his mother went to sleep. He was piecing the clues together slowly but unsurely.

Hypersensitive hearing, fangs, gold eyes.

“Felix…”

“What?”

He looked over at his friend, his eyes somehow twinkling with excitement upon finding something—someone of the same kind as him. Quite different, actually, but within the same category of being unrealistic and magical. Felix raised his eyebrows at Seungmin’s faint smile, urging him to speak.

“I think… I think we just found a werewolf.”

God, Felix should have never followed Seungmin out to the woods this morning.

* * *

At this point, Felix knew that convincing Seungmin of doing anything logical, such as reporting to the local sheriff station when you found a body in the middle of the woods, was beyond his ability. Seungmin just wasn’t going to listen to him at all.

After a rather heated bickering session of Felix arguing for letting the authority take care of you and Seungmin arguing for looking more into the situation for any form of supernatural elements before making a decision, Seungmin had chosen to forcefully make a decision and took you back to his home.

Felix had grumpily followed suit because despite what he thought, he was quite curious about the unknown world he was just about to open the gates to.

Arriving at Seungmin’s home, Felix did a small double-take traditionally and sighed at the mansion-like structure of his best friend’s home. He didn’t know much of Seungmin’s family (probably even less now with all the hidden family secrets both him and Seungmin were just getting their hands on) but he knew that his family was rich, extremely rich, too rich to be living in a no-name town like this instead of thriving somewhere in the center of a vibrant city.

“Alright, Felix. Can you go get them cleaned up and dressed? Just grab some clothes from my drawer and use the bathroom closest to my room,” Seungmin said as soon as he unlocked the door and opened it. Stepping into the house, he kicked his shoes off and nudged them neatly to the side.

“Why am I the one doing it? Can’t you do it?” Felix groaned in protest.

“I have to grab the journals, we are going to go through some intensive research. Also, I think I am going to grab some food for them, they must be starving!” Seungmin replied, shifting a little to look behind Felix’s shoulder at you, who stood awkwardly before the door with a dumbfounded expression.

Felix turned around to glance at you, his brows furrowing the slightest bit when you weren’t moving from your spot. He walked further into the house, making Seungmin scoot back as he swatted his hand at him lightly.

“Hey, come in. You can come in,” he said welcomingly, a small smile plastered to make himself appear less intimidating and more trustworthy. “Don’t worry about your dirty feet, Seungmin over here will clean it up.”

Seungmin rolled his eyes in disbelief but he soon turned his attention to your reaction. With a prolonged stare at Felix’s face, looking as if you were analyzing him in your mind, you pouted in an almost prideful way as you turned your body slightly before walking into the house.

“My feet aren’t dirty,” you mumbled under your breath as you stepped in, leaving faint trails of dark spots on the white marble floor and causing Seungmin to groan in annoyance while Felix laughed with a rise of his eyebrow teasingly.

The two buys went separate ways then, agreeing to meet each other in the living room when they both finished their assigned tasks.

Seungmin quickly made his way to his father’s previous office, needing to reopen the drawer after he decided he would keep all the journals locked up in there for the sake of his father’s decision.

Felix spent at least fifteen minutes explaining to you how to turn the shower valve and adjust the temperature. He didn’t complain for the first minute since he was once in your confused position, but after many more times of you blinking at him with questions, he seemed to have lost his patience.

And then it was telling you to not take your clothes off when someone else was still present. It was strictly for his moral righteousness, though, he was sure there were sick people out there who probably wouldn’t have minded it much and would take advantage of your lack of social knowledge, but he wasn’t one of those people and he never would be.

It was about the time Seungmin finished putting finding all the useful journals they would need for this moment when Felix finally came down looking more exhausted than ever, with you trailing behind wearing one of Seungmin’s many thousand dollar shirts and sweatpants.

To his expectation, you were much more presentable after having a nice shower. There were no longer any dirt on your face or feet, your skin appeared brighter and smoother—you looked like a normal human being, but of course, they were about to find out if you really were exactly like one of them.

Well, not so much Seungmin, supposedly.

Felix slumped down on the couch with his eyes closed and his chest heaving up and down gently. Seungmin ignored him as he proceeded to move to sit down on a spot after putting down the tray of food in front of you, “Here, I found some onigiri in the fridge, have some.”

“Onigiri? The one with chickens?” Felix opened his eyes abruptly and turned his head to look at the small tray.

Seungmin nodded, “Yes, do you want one?”

“You need to ask? Of course I want one,” Felix sat up and leaned over to snatch one up in his hands before quickly peeling off the packaging.

You picked one up after seeing Felix did so. The smell of the chicken coated with a sauce not of your knowledge was shifting right beneath your nostrils and tempting you with every movement you made. It was taking all your willpower not to simply devour the food whole along with the plastic packaging.

Eyeing Fexlix closely, you tried your best to tear open the plastic and wrap the seaweed around the triangle-shaped stick rice the way Felix was doing it, but you had lost track of the way his fingers moved skilfully with the wrapping paper that you were left dumbfounded after the first step, so you resulted in doing it your own way.

Felix raised the onigiri up to his mouth, ready to take a big fat bite to compensate for the hunger all the thinking and walking have given him, but his hand had stopped mid-way when his eyes briefly scanned over you. His mouth clamped shut when he saw the mess you’ve made of your food, the seaweed ripped into several big pieces and your filling falling out of the rice from every direction, yet you were still trying to make it work.

He sighed in defeat, his weak heart couldn’t handle ignoring you when you were sitting just a few steps away from him and was in obvious need of some assistance. Reaching his hand out to you, he shook his arm gently, urging you to look up at him with your wide, previously frustrated eyes.

Felix softened a little, pressing his lips into a smile as he nudged his chin towards the onigiri in his hand, “Take this one. I’ll have yours.”

You stared at him after your eyes darted between the perfect onigiri in his hand and the broken one on the table before you. Your voice was clear when you spoke, “Mine is broken.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it, I’ll just… I’ll find another way around eating it,” he said, reaching out to grab the tray so he could put it on his lab before once again shaking his arm to urge you to take his rice ball.

You did so, hesitantly, but after you’ve got the perfectly wrapped rice ball in your hand, you wasted no time in shoving it into your mouth and savoring the taste by chewing at a slow pace. Felix felt his heart sighed in satisfaction seeing your delighted expression that he almost forgot he was poking around at the fallen pieces of rice on the tray.

Seungmin cleared his throat after he finished watching the scene unfold before him, eyeing you closely instead of paying any attention to the connection you two were unknowingly building in hopes to catch more glimpses of what you really were to give this investigation an easy start.

And he did catch something. It was the emerald ring on your hand.

“Hey, uh… you…” Seungmin called but quickly put out a hand to pause for a moment. He then turned to Felix, sucking in an awkward breath before he spoke, “Did they tell you their name at all?”

Felix popped a piece of chicken in his mouth as he thought back to the little makeover session you had, trying to see if you’ve let anything about your identity slip, but he got nothing. “No… I just called them ‘hey!’ the whole time. Maybe you can ask them yourself?”

“I don’t have a name,” you answered out of the blue, causing the two boys to snap their head over to look at you. You looked back at them with your cheeks filled, busy chewing the rice in your mouth than to actually pay attention to what the two have to say. They kind of already got that vibe from you too, judging by the unfocused look in your eyes.

Seungmin tilted his head to the side, looking faintly troubled with his eyes narrowed and his lips puffing out air. He was sure you have a name, perhaps you just couldn’t remember. It would really help if you had a name though, both with the content in the journals and later, if needed, when they take you to the sheriff station to ask for help.

“Alright then, let’s not let that stop us from investigating. Can I have a look at your ring, please?” He asked after a moment of thought, leaning in to reach his hand out as encouragement.

You passed to look at your own hand for a moment before nodding, removing it from your middle finger and putting it in the middle of Seungmin’s palm. He drew back with a satisfied look on his face then as you finished off the last piece of your onigiri before reaching out for the last one on the tray.

Felix leaned over to Seungmin to glance at the ring for a moment. The glittery green of the rectangular shaped gemstone reflected the lights seeping through the ceiling window in the living room, visibly displaying a set of gold linings carved within the emerald.

He furrowed his eyebrows at the unfamiliar symbol, pursing his lips in questions as he looked over at the table where the journals were scattered across on. He hummed when he saw the all the leathered covered notebooks were color-coded with a certain symbol etched on their covers. Scanning through the rows with his eyes opened in concentration, Felix’s eyes settled on the only journal with a dark green leather cover.

“Hey… Seungmin… look at this,” He spoke quietly as if what they were doing was something of top secret. He supposed it would be, judging by how coincidental all the pieces of this massive puzzle were linking back to each other.

Seungmin finding out he came from a family of magical history; Finding a person in the woods who was assumed to be a werewolf; The werewolf wearing a ring with a symbol the exact same as the one on the journal that had been hidden for years—this was straight out of a movie, and to be frank, Felix was starting to feel quite excited about his dull life finally taking a turn for, perhaps, the better.

With his eyes darting back and forth between the ring and the notebook, Seungmin placed the ring back on the table and grabbed the notebook from Felix’s hand and flipped it open.

The first page was a small sketch of a young child, with the words ‘2003, three years old’ written messily next to the sketch. Holding up the notebook, Seungmin looked from the sketch to you repeatedly, his lips forming more and more into a frown the more his eyes flipped back and forth.

“You wouldn’t think maybe hey would have at least changed a little in terms of appearances because it’s been many years since two thousand and three?” Felix pointed out as a matter of factly, “Also, Seungmin, this is a sketch, not a portrait.”

Seungmin rolled his eyes in annoyance, quickly flipping the page to find more information he needed. There were more sketches of the same child growing up, seemingly, with the age and date written in the same format next to the little drawings. And he was getting quite fed up with the lack of information on what you are but more so it was a book similar to a growing up diary of a peculiar child. Scanning through pages after pages of drawings and dates, he finally stumbled upon a page with sentences.

Both him and Felix let out a yell when their eyes caught the sight of the words, excited to read about what it has to say. Upon the sudden commotion, you snapped your head up quickly to see the two looking at the page with furrowed eyebrows. You didn’t understand what the two were doing but you decided it would be best for you to stay silent and wait for a conclusion.

**I can’t stop them.**

**I can’t stop your mother and her family… I can only save one.**

**The kid doesn’t have a name yet.**

**Name them for me, Seungmin.**

“Jesus, I told you this is a deliberate plan,” Felix said after reading the lines that sent him chills down his spine. It was like Seungmin’s father was directly communicating with them. “It’s just… not a prank.”

Seungmin didn’t speak. His eyes were trained on the edge of the table, doing more amount of thinking than he ever did in any classes he’s ever attended in school Felix could practically hear the wheels in his brain turning at a fast pace. He was mumbling something under his breath, remembering something about the journals he’s read.

“Felix… can you search up what Argenti means?” He suddenly asked, dropping the green journal and reaching out for the red one which mostly contained family history and family incidents his father had recorded. He never thought much about it when he was reading one specific part about his mother’s side of the family, but he was starting to stick everything together now.

“It means silver, it’s Latin,” Felix replied easily, “My English teacher told us about it in class when we were learning about a poem.”

“Silver… silver… what does silver–right! Silver harms werewolves!” Seungmin said with a light gasp, giving up on keeping his voice quiet when he knew you could hear him either way. He grabbed the red journal and furiously flipped through it to find the right place. “I saw it on a bullet sketch in the portion where my dad wrote about my mother’s side of the family.”

His hands came to a stop suddenly as he placed the notebook down on his lap, his index finger moving down to read the lines. Felix’s concern grew as Seungmin’s breathing got heavier and heavier, reading the messily written line at the corner of a page: Argenti’s pack killed, 2012, immortal ring?

“Felix, look through the purple covered ones and see if you can find a page talking about an immortal ring?” Seungmin asked, moving between the red journal and the green journal to see if he could find any connection.

Felix did so, urgently grabbing all the purple covered notebooks he could find when he saw how agitated his best friend appeared. He didn’t even give himself the chance to groan about the amount of work before he quickly dived into the pages.

“Nine, ten, eleven… shit,” Seungmin whispered under his breath for a moment before looking up when Felix spoke.

“Ah! Found it! The immortal ring. Used to protect the death of a supernatural creature at the cause of human hands. The material used are warlock blood, candles, conjurer’s runes…” Felix licked his lower lip, his eyes casting down to glance at the symbol he remembered seeing in the ring you took off for Seungmin before continuing on the last object needed, “And an emerald gemstone.”

Seungmin blinked in defeat, clicking his tongue when he realized the assumption he made half-way into the journals were correct. He picked up the green notebook, “In two thousand and twelve, my mother’s family apparently hunted down a werewolf pact whose alpha goes by the name Argenti. And his recording of the werewolf child stopped at the year two thousand and twelve.”

Felix’s shoulders slumped. He knew exactly what else went wrong that year. It was the year Seungmin’s father died.

“My take on this is that my mother is a supernatural hunter, or maybe just a werewolf hunter, who cares? They kill creatures. My dad grew an attachment to this pack because why else would he write a whole baby diary of this one kid, who I guess would be none other than Little Doe over here,” Seungmin gestured towards you, “And uh, maybe he didn’t die because of an accident. Maybe he died because of murder.”

Felix opened his mouth to speak, wanting to tell Seungmin he was jumping to a conclusion far too quickly and he was giving his mother too little credit by assuming his father’s death had something to do with her family and her decision. But there must be a reason why Seungmin was the only one who could open the drawer, there must be a reason why his father said he couldn’t stop her and her family.

He felt sick all of a sudden, and he was sure Seungmin felt the same way too. Having to find out the real way—assumably—his beloved father died and to know that it was because of his own mother was something he could never imagine. It has got to hit even someone who’s as emotionally stable as Seungmin.

“I guess we can’t take them to the authority because I don’t trust them to do much of a great job handling Little Doe either,” Seungmin concluded, putting together all the journals with an unreadable expression. “But they can’t stay here either because my mom is a werewolf and husband killer, so they are going to have to head home with you.”

Felix opened his mouth to protest but he didn’t have to chance to. As soon as Seungmin looked up at him, his eyes shining bright with gleams of tears that screamed he didn’t want to talk about anything more and he just needed some silent moral support. And Felix completely understood that.

“You smell sad, Seungmin.”

Your voice made the two boys snap their head towards you. You were staring at Seungmin mostly, but your eyes did glance briefly at Felix who smelt conflicted. He was expressing a weird kind of feelings you hadn’t quite gotten the hang of and it was troubling you slightly.

Reaching your hand out, you offered him the still messily wrapped onigiri but it was better than the previous one you did. Felix couldn’t help but smile a little at the change, his lips unknowingly quirking upwards in amusement, while Seungmin raised his eyebrow at you questioningly.

“You can have my rice ball, this made me feel better,” you said, looking at him honestly.

Seungmin felt his lip quiver as he reached out to take the food, leaning against the couch as he took a huge bite urgently. He smiled for a moment, finding himself at loss for words when he would normally make a joke or two at silence like these.

He looked over at Felix then, “Let’s give them a name, Felix.”

“What about (Name)? I think that sounds fine,” Felix shrugged.

“I don’t get to decide the name, ask them if they like it,” Seungmin eyed you encouragingly.

“You get to choose too, Seungmin. Your father wanted you to name them so you get to pick too,” Felix retorted gently.

Seungmin gulped hardly, nodding his head eagerly, “I quite like it. Do you like it, Little Doe?”

You blinked at them both, unsure of what the situation was so you simply nodded, “(Name)… is that my name?”

Felix shrugged when Seungmin looked at him, a soft smile planted on his face as he urged him to make it official. He cleaned his mouth with his tongue then, making sure nothing would make him stutter or fumble with his words.

Seungmin sat up then, looking at you with all seriousness but also a special kind of tenderness flashing behind his eyes, “Yes. That is your name, (Name).”

* * *

To say the tension between you and Felix were awkward was an understatement. Much more to Felix than it was to you, though, since you haven’t really registered the idea of being uncomfortable around strangers yet. It was one of the more carefree characteristics of yours that Felix found himself being envious of, the way you could easily slip into conversations or be extremely straightforward with your thoughts.

That was just because he didn’t know where your comfortableness was coming from. While not being able to understand social concepts, you did know Seungmin and Felix were the two people who saved you from your deep slumber under the dirt and you, being a werewolf, were more inclined to feel loyalty and gratefulness towards them. It was the only reason why you hadn’t (and you never would) bite their heads off yet.

After taking you home, he brought you back into his room, not before giving you a brief tour in the living room, just pointing at different directions and telling you where you could find what. But he also told you to not leave his room until the coast is clear (meaning no one else is in the house) so you supposed you wouldn’t be going anywhere in the house anytime sooner.

And now Felix sat on his bed with his phone in his hand, searching up anything werewolf related since Seungmin didn’t give him much information about what the real deal was like so he thought he would result to none other than the helpful internet despite most of its content being chunks and chunks of pure fiction.

It was mostly to take his mind off the discovery of the supernatural world but a part of him just knew it was to ease out the tension in his muscles from caring too much about the way you silently stared at him from the corner of his room. Honestly, he couldn’t wrap his head around why you kept doing that? Just sitting there and staring at him intensely like you were waiting for the right time to pounce on him.

“You are nervous,” you suddenly said then, having sniffed out the strong aroma Felix was putting forth.

He held back a groan. If there was one thing he could be sure about you was that smelling emotions—this would always sound weird to him—was one of your many capabilities. And despite the weird nature of this power, Felix thought it could come in handy at times when you want to sniff out a liar in a conversation.

Bad for him since he knew you could tell who’s lying but good for you because you would never have to worry about fake people in your life. Ever.

“Because you are staring at me,” he replied with a heaved sigh, dropping his phone and finally turning to look at you. He clasped his hands together simply for the sake of doing something with his body to remind himself he wasn’t as trapped as his mind was, smiling a little at you to be polite.

You pressed your lips together and jutted your bottom lip out into a small frown. He should have told you that earlier, you would have stopped immediately if you knew it was your staring that was sending him uncomfortable vibes.

“Oh… sorry about that,” you mumbled as you looked away, letting yourself look around his room and soaking up his scent that seemed to be revolving around the area. There was a certain smell in his room, different than other places in the house despite it being within the same land, Felix’s room was refreshing, boyish, a wafting of air as the waves hit the shore—it smelt like him.

He shrugged then, “It’s fine… why do you stare, though?”

You hummed, having never thought about the reason behind your mindless looking. Your instincts just told you to keep an eye on Felix and Seungmin so you did. Probably because you had developed a form of special bond with them the moment you opened your eyes after a long while, like imprinting without the biological attachment.

Aside from your instinct, somewhere at the back of your mind, you found yourself liking the feeling of looking at the two. It was understandable, Felix and Seungmin were one hell of a good-looking duo. Dazzling, boyish, both were eye candy to the maximum amount and it made you want to look longer.

“You are handsome and I like you,” you shrugged casually, replying with the utmost honesty since your brain had yet to register the importance of deception. And it seemed like you weren’t a big fan of the knowledge regarding a very humane emotion called love either.

Felix blinked rapidly at your misleading words, finding himself at a loss for words and his cheeks heating up at the upright confession. He’d had a fair share of love confessions before and every single time, his heart races with embarrassment knowing that people actually look at him and finds adoration in their head.

He never really got used to being confessed to and he was never sure whether he was happy or guilty about them. Maybe both. They were like a small self-esteem boost but also he would have to deal with turning down someone’s feelings.

“Because you and Seungmin saved me,” you added with a purse of your lips, nodding at him firmly.

Felix widened his eyes then, pausing his thoughts for a moment. He held up his hands, “Wait, what about Seungmin? How do you feel about him?”

You shrugged,“The same way I feel about you. He is very handsome and I like him because he saved me too.”

Right, of course that would be the reason why. What was he thinking?

Felix breathed out a soft sigh then, laughing at himself as he looked away. He was feeling even more embarrassed now that he realized he had taken your words the wrong way but he was also more relieved than ever knowing you didn’t mean what you said in a romantic way.

“Why are you laughing?” You asked, tilting your head to the side at his sudden change of mood.

Felix shook his head, a smile still played on his lips, “Nothing. It’s just… yeah, it’s nothing.”

The smile soon faded when he heard a yell from outside the living room. He recognized the voice to be his mother’s and immediately he turned his head to you, who snapped your head to the door with eyes glaring holes at the wooden frame.

Unsure of what your internal monologue involved (hopefully not biting his mother’s head off due to your unfamiliarity with her), Felix urgently stood up from his bed and dropped his feet down to the ground.

He went over to your side with his hands placed in front of his chest and he looked at you carefully, his position as if he was talking to a child, “Stay here, okay? Do not come out until I call for you.”

You furrowed your eyebrows at his alarming words, “Why? Who is outside? I can kill them for you, don’t worry–”

“No! No killing, (Name), absolutely nothing violent,” Felix said, a little taken back by the way your eyes gleamed gold but he kept it all in his system. “The person outside is my mother, she is no one dangerous. Just stay here until I come back, okay? Can you do that?”

You frowned a little at his words which completely contradicted the urgency in his voice that simply screamed danger in your head but you complied with him, “Okay.”

He smiled, giving your head a small pat as a thank you gesture in return for your obedience. You perked up at the soft brushes on your head, your senses tingling through your veins. You sniffed in harshly, your lips pressed together as your throat uttered out a gasp of content.

Before you could open your mouth to speak, Felix had already left your side to head out to the living room. His palms were sweaty as he made his way down the hallway and outside where his mother was busy putting out all the grocery she bought.

Felix moved over quickly to helped her out, attempting to start a normal conversation, “Hey, mom, how’s your day?”

“Pretty great until the school called me and told me you were absent today. Apparently, Seungmin was absent too, is that a coincidence or a deliberate plan to ditch school?” She asked, shooting down Felix’s plan quickly.

“Oh! Uh, actually,” Felix internally panicked, opening the refrigerator to put in the milk so he could use the refrigerator door to cover his nervous expression. “Seungmin was on his way to school today but he got into a minor car accident and I ended up having to take him back to his home and take care of him for the whole day.”

“Oh really? That’s horrible, I sure hope he is doing fine,” she said with feigned sympathy, “Being in an accident he didn’t know he was in must be very hard for him.”

Felix shut the fridge door with a heaved sigh. He looked over to his mother defeatedly, waiting for her to continue her unfinished sentence.

“I talked to his mother, she told me he said you had a very bad stomachache so he stayed in to look after you the whole day,” she said, bringing out the cereal boxes. “Well, to a certain level, you two did have the same idea, just not the same situation. I’ll give you both that. But what I really want to know is the truth, Felix.”

The boy rubbed his hands together. His mother’s glare was on the same scare level as your golden eyes and shape fangs. With his years of experiences, one thing he learned was that his mother would definitely know he was lying and to lie when she was giving him the glare of the final warning would only result in a bloodbath.

And at this moment, with your hyper smelling just a few steps away, him being in a nervous wreck before his mother might not be the best idea for the protective instincts you held towards Felix.

“Okay,” Felix finally, deciding he would tell the truth without telling the truth, “We went to the woods today and we found a body buried under the dirt. We were going to call the sheriff because we both thought we found a dead body but the hand shot out from the ground so together we pulled at the hand and a person came out from underneath.”

His mother raised an eyebrow in confusion, and Felix continued, “We brought (Name) to Seungmin’s home to clean them up–”

“Hold on, Felix, (Name)? You talk like you know this person.”

Felix squinted his eyes a little as he clapped his hands together, “Yeah, about that… they are kind of… in my room right now…”

“They are what–Lee Felix, what the hell have you and Seungmin done? Where did you logic fly off to when you found this person–you don’t bring strangers into your home, especially not one buried in the woods!”

“Well, they are already here, what do you want me to do about it?” Felix hushed out, trying to keep his mother’s voice down as much as possible. “Besides, they are fine. They haven’t done anything psychotic, we are going to be safe… I will, at least…”

“Jesus Christ, you–oh my god, I can’t even deal with this right now,” his mother spoke quietly, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration because she was unable to fathom why Felix and Seungmin would ever think that bringing someone like you along would ever be a good idea.

She dropped her hand then, “Are they… are they inside, right now?”

Felix slowly nodded.

“Okay… just… we’ll have dinner and I will set up the guest room for them, but the first thing I’m doing tomorrow morning is bringing them to the sheriff, alright?” His mother said, deicing there was nothing she could do about the situation and she was also too exhausted to be thinking about anything at the moment. “No objection. Call them outside, I got macaroni and cheese, hopefully enough for three people.”

Felix felt apologetic upon seeing how stressed she looked but he knew even if he apologized, his mother wouldn’t respond him the way he hoped she would, which was just a simple smile of acceptance. So without another word, he headed back into his room to call for you.

And also to text Seungmin about the situation.

God, just thinking about it made him groan. He wasn’t ready for another round of heavy disappointment.

* * *

When Felix’s back hit the bed, he was quick to knock out of his own consciousness and head straight to sleep. He had thought perhaps he would be having some existential crisis while staring at the ceiling for a few minutes before he would allow himself a peaceful sleep, but he was too tired after all the thinking and explaining, to all you, Seungmin, and his mother.

But he found himself unable to really fall asleep. His eyes were closed and his body was heavy against the mattress, his mind completely blank and resting. He would feel the sleep in his system but at the same time being able to recognize he was sleeping just made him feel as if he was awake.

He opened his eyes groggily in the middle of the night and they rolled upwards to silently express irritation to himself. Why was it so hard for him to sleep? All he wanted was a little rest, was that so hard for the world to grant him? Turing his body to the other side to look at the clock on his night table, he was quickly greeted with a choked yell and a pair of eyes staring right back at him by the bed.

“Fuck! You scared me, (Name)!” He said in startlement as he propped himself up on his forearms, “What the hell are you doing, (Name)? Why aren’t you in the guest room?”

“I can’t sleep so I came to look after you. I am making sure no one barges into your room,” you said.

“You barged into my room.”

“I am making sure no one bad barges into your room,” you rephrased innocently. “I am here to protect you, from bad things.”

Felix stared at you then, his brows furrowed and his eyes showing signs of absolute deadpan. You could hear the exhaustion from his deep, raspy voice when he sighed with a small head tilt before he let his body drop back down on his soft bed.

His eyes were closed as his face greeted the direction of the ceiling. He couldn’t bring himself to blame you for doing such stalkerish actions when your underlying motive was positive, and it wasn’t your fault your memories of any kinds of formal, acceptable mannerism were wiped away.

He didn’t know what it was that made you the way you were, maybe it was the magical coma or that you were raised in a werewolf family, but he knew you were in no part of it. It was forced upon you. And Felix just could not blame you for it at all, it was too heartless of a move.

“(Name)… this is a house, do you know that? This thing we are in. Seungmin has his own too, we were there this afternoon,” he said, “Houses are made to give us shelter, they are made to protect us so you shouldn’t have to worry too much about bad people coming in. Everything is locked, I promise.”

When his voice dropped, Felix turned his head on his pillow so he could look at you. The moonlight shot in from the balcony window and hit your pure facial features, giving your skin an ethereal glow he had never thought he would see before.

He smiled softly at your frowning face, his hand reaching out to pat your head, “But thank you, nonetheless, for wanting to protect me.”

Your frown went away in a second as you relished in the familiar feeling you’ve grown fond of the second you first experienced it. Leaning against Felix’s touch, your eyes closed in joy and your head leaned against the edge of his bed, “I like this. I like the feeling when you brush my head.”

He took a moment to process your words, and he chuckled in amusement when he did. He gave your hair a few more ruffles vigorously, “You do huh? I kind of figured.”

You smiled at him, the kind where you show your teeth—something like a grin but softer, more comfortable. For one second he thought it was just you glowing, but senses came to him that it would be the werewolf magic shining out your veins and the moonlight drowning you with sparkles.

And Felix ignored the fact that he had to catch his beating heart before it could get too quick for it to be alarming. He told himself it was the drowsiness and his gratefulness for you being protective of him doing things to his head and nothing more than that.

“Do you want to go to sleep? You can sleep on the floor, I will give you my blanket and pillow,” Felix said, pointing at his spare bed necessities. “Come on, sleeping is important, (Name).”

You thought for a moment before you nodded, and with the help of a very sleepy Felix, you successfully made yourself a decent little bed on the floor right in front of the night table. You laid on top of the thin cover, your hands laid beside you as you stared up at the ceiling.

“(Name), can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah.”

Felix hummed, “This came out of nowhere but… do you remember anything about your family?”

You shook your head, “No. I just know I was sleeping one night and suddenly my home got attacked and then everything went black. The next thing was waking up and seeing you and Seungmin.”

He replied with a small mutter of acknowledgment. He could see why despite him telling you home was a safe place, you couldn’t quite get on the same page with him. Your home wasn’t as safe as his, after all, and that was all you had ever known.

“I’m sorry that happened,” he whispered.

“It’s not your fault,” you replied, causing him to chuckle.

“Yeah? You’re the first one to tell me that today,” he said, turning to his side, “It just seems like everything is my fault lately.”

You side-eyed his bed once, your lips jutted out to form into a pout. You could hear his conversation with his mother outside, and even with the lack of understanding, you could tell Felix was upset when he came back into the room. He was also feeling pretty down when he was texting Seungmin. You supposed this was the reason why.

“I don’t blame you for anything,” you said then, honesty seeping through your voice, “I really don’t. And I think Seungmin doesn’t either.”

Felix licked his lower lip, finding it funny that he was receiving solace from a stranger’s word. Well, to a certain degree, you weren’t much of a stranger anymore. At least he wasn’t a stranger to you anymore. A savior was more like it, but perhaps a friend could be accepted too.

Felix wouldn’t really mind that, he thought.

“Good night, (Name),” he greeted, hearing you repeat the words before he let himself drop onto his pillow and blank out of existence.

* * *

Before they left the house, Felix’s mother had pointedly told him to head to class instead of following along because whatever happens to you would be none of his business anymore. And Felix couldn’t anything else harder to do than listening to his mother’s orders in the morning.

Stopping his bike in front of the police station and locking it to a metal pole by the pedestrian street, he quickly made his way into the air-conditioned lobby of the station. Scanning around the area, he was quick to find his mother standing with the sheriff and you standing just behind her.

As Felix approached closer, you perked up and turned around at the familiar smell of his comforting scent. Seeing him approach, you broke into a smile but it soon faded when both the sheriff and his mother turned to look at him approaching.

“What the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you to go to school!” His mother scolded, looking at him with wide eyes.

Felix gulped nervously, “Well, I just thought since Seungmin and I are the ones who found (Name), maybe what we witnessed can be of help for investigating.”

Her jaw dropped meanwhile the sheriff nodded in approval. He raised his pen up, smiling at Felix, “You are right. We could do that so if you will excuse me for a moment, I will have that arranged quickly while you,” he pointed his pen at you, “Get ready for an interrogation. I will come back to you in a couple of minutes.”

The sheriff left for the tables behind him, where his colleagues sat, and Felix sighed. After giving you a short glance, he turned his head over to the entrance of the sheriff station just in time to catch Seungmin running in with a stack of papers in his hand and his hair extremely disheveled.

“Alright! I am here! I am here!” Seungmin said as he rushed over to Felix. He gave Felix’s mother a quick greeting, completely disregarding her annoyed and confused expression due to the demanding situation at hand: getting you to remember your made-up background story.

Pulling the both of you to the side, making sure his grip on your arm was gently due to his very reasonable fear of you hurting him, he gave you a quick glance when you three were gathered in a circle at the corner and he laughed slightly at the clothes Felix lent you the night before.

Turning back to Felix, who was rolling his eyes, he didn’t get a chance to speak as Felix beat him to it. “I don’t want to ruin your expensive clothes so I folded them up and they are now on top of my desk, come by to get them after school,” he said, shaking his hand at Seungmin’s face to which he slapped away as a response.

“Whatever. The main problem right now is this,” he said, holding up the paper to you, “I spent the whole night yesterday making up a fake family background for you so please remember everything on here and only say what is written on this paper when they ask you any questions.”

Felix furrowed his eyebrows as he leaned over to look at the intricate bubble chart on the paper. He turned his attention to Seungmin then, “Why can’t you just let (Name) play the amnesia card? They can’t use anything against you if you don’t give them anything.”

Seungmin rolled his eyes, “I did think about that but they aren’t the only one missing. There are plenty of people missing in this country, what if one of them has the same name as them and they get taken away due to a misunderstanding?”

Felix clicked his tongue, “It’s not going to be like that.”

“How do you know–shh, hold on,” Seungmin pressed a finger to his lips when he saw the sheriff walking up to Felix’s mother with a troubled look. Quickly turning to you, he waved for your attention, “Hey, (Name), can you listen to what the sheriff is saying? That tall guy over there.”

You looked behind your shoulder and nodded, concentrating your hearing on that particular spot. You were unmoving as you spoke out word for word what the sheriff was saying, “We just went through the system to look for someone named (Name) and we couldn’t pull up any record with information matching theirs. Are you sure this isn’t a mistake? Maybe a prank again? You know those two, they are always onto something.”

Felix and Seungmin simultaneously rolled their eyes at the mention. The prank was one time and it wasn’t even that serious, they never understood why the sheriff couldn’t just let go of it as it happened years before.

Shaking the thought away, Felix snapped his fingers and tilted his head to the side, “So the amnesia card?”

Seungmin rolled his eyes again then, submitting into the idea when he saw the situation allowed it. Taking back his papers, he pushed back the bitter feeling of all his hard work being thrown into the trash before he looked at you, “Change of plans, Little Doe. Tell them nothing, alright? Absolutely nothing. Even if you know the answer, lie to them.”

Felix nodded encouragingly when you looked at him for confirmation, finding yourself giving your trust more to Felix than Seungmin compared to before when you were standing right in the middle of the faith plane, all due to the small interaction you two had last night under the company of the night sky and the moon.

“Oh, wait, also,” Felix suddenly pointed out. He turned to Seungmin, “The interrogation! I’m scared it is going to agitate (Name) because they can smell intimidation off the adults and, well, they are finding most things threatening now.”

“Right, and you’re afraid they are going to attack,” Seungmin nodded understandingly, his brows furrowed in thoughts, “I actually went through the journals yesterday to look for more information. I couldn’t find much, just normal things like werewolf traits and their weaknesses and such, but I do remember that they are very… loyal.”

“Can you elaborate a little?” Felix asked, waving his hands.

“What I meant is that since they are very loyal to family, they will most likely stay calm within the presence of them. So if we can find a strong enough scent to overwhelm the threatening one the sheriff has putting forth then we don’t have to worry about anything,” Seungmin explained.

Felix hummed then, nodding in agreement. He gave you a glance then, looking you up and down to see that you were practically already downed in his presence since you were wearing his clothes, but just in case that wasn’t enough.

“Take off your blazer for them, Seungmin,” Felix said, putting a hand on his schoolbag strap. When his best friend gave him a questioning gaze, he shook his head, “We are the first two people they saw when they woke up. I am sure (Name) feel a certain kind of attachment to us right now, not because I am a narcissist and I think we are all that but because they told me yesterday they would kill my mom to protect me.”

“Oh, they did? That’s…” Seungmin took off his schoolbag and handed it to Felix before he proceeded to shrug off his school blazer, “Hardcore. They are protective.”

“Yeah, over us,” Felix said.

“Alright, here you go, (Name),” Seungmin said, giving you his blazer. “Just… if you feel nervous or if you feel like you want to kill someone… ugh… don’t, okay?”

You wore Seungmin’s blazer, a soft smile playing on your lips as you nodded in agreement. When you looked up at him again, your eyes were sparkling in a way that made Seungmin blink in confusion.

Felix leaned over to his best friend’s side and whispered, “They are waiting for you to pat their head. Apparently, they have a thing for it.”

“You started this, didn’t you?” Seungmin mumbled to Felix, reaching out quickly to give your head a gentle ruffle. He allowed himself to give a faint smirk at your reaction, the way you lean so easily towards him with such a simple movement. “God, I left you two alone for one night and this happens. You guys are being friends without me.”

Felix only shrugged, but he knew Seungmin knows the truth already.

“You are my friend too, Seungmin!” You pointed out, looking at him with bright eyes that even without Felix’s add ons this time, Seungmin knew you were the genuine, honest kind of person and that you tell whatever goes on in your mind.

His smile widened, “Thank you. You are my friend too, I suppose.”

“Hey, both of you! Go to school now!”

The two laughed, backing away from Felix’s mother’s accusing finger as she jabbed at them threateningly. They continuously glanced between her and you, hardening their gaze knowingly at you whenever their eyes met yous, hoping their concerns regarding what would be of your future could be conveyed enough with just a hard stare.

And they didn’t say it, but they both hoped you could stay.

* * *

You brought Seungmin’s blazer closer around your body as you glared at the two officers who stood in front of the cell they put you in.

The sheriff made such an irrational decision, as the other officers called it, after the interrogation that was a colossal waste of time because you stuck to what Seungmin told you, which was saying absolutely nothing, before he and Felix were chased out of the sheriff station. He said he needed time to receive more assistance and to find more information before he could let you out.

“Honestly, what is he thinking, trapping a kid behind bars?” One of them whispered as she looked away, facing the clock that had struck past twelve a while ago, signaling their lunch time.

“Sorry we can’t get you out of here, sheriff’s order, but we can get you a burger on the way. Do you want anything for lunch, kid?” The other officer asked, looking between the cell gap at you.

You continued to glare at them, saying nothing. You meant for your expression to display only menace and nothing else, to show that you were definitely not fond of them, but the two adults seemed to have taken your hostility as just another teenage tantrum instead.

The officer sighed then, leaning back to face his partner with a shrug before he reached out for the key card in his front pocket. He swiped it across the black device to lock the iron door before he left with his partner, leaving you to your own devices in the empty station.

You looked at the device, its red light flashing constantly to indicate the cell doors were unopened. You didn’t quite understand the technology behind how the locking system worked but you did know if you wanted to get out of this place, which neither Seungmin nor Felix told you not to do, your best bet would be to play around with that.

And since you weren’t exactly the smart type, your initial idea was to simply break the device.

Standing up carefully, you dropped down to the ground from the metal bench hung to the wall by two chains and you tip-toed your way over to the end corner of the cell, where it was the closest to the device.

Clenching and unclenching your fists, you cracked your joints in impossible ways to regain better control over the supernatural strength you haven’t gotten to use in a long time. When you felt as if you were prepared, you first wrapped your hands around the iron poles, planning to do a test run first to see if you have enough power and to see if you could bend them by force.

There were slight creaks of protest and ultimately, you were unsuccessful. Removing your hands with an annoyed frown, you clicked your tongue at the iron bar before shifting your weight to lean against the wall and stared outside at the black device not too far from you.

Your eyes flew from between the iron bar gaps to the device, imagining yourself looping your arm out and calculating whether your arm was long enough to make the escape plan possible. It took a small moment of thought before you hummed, finally moving your arm up to the gap and reaching out for the key device.

You groaned in dismay when you realized your fingers were only a few inches apart from the device. You only needed a good enough grip, be it a faint one or whatnot, to apply some strength on it so you could break the machine completely. You were so close.

Wriggling your fingers, you squished your face against the corner of the cell fence, your lips pursed together hardly as you stretched your arm further out if it was even possible. You got as close as you could, pulling yourself in with your free hand before you could grab the corner of the device.

Your hand wrapped around the top half of the machine then, and quickly you squeezed it tight, applying more strength when nothing seemed to be working. Your claws popped out at the amount of strength you were using because your nerves were unable to detect whether it was a potential danger or simple use of power, and they dug through the plastic box quickly, breaking the outer shell in half.

Your hand went down with the box, your claws scratching a deadly mark on the wires inside and causing a malfunction when you’ve cut them off. Sparks flew off the device, the electricity zapping for a moment before the red light completely burned off.

The sound of the cell unlocking could be heard then. Carefully, you pushed open the jail door and stepped outside with a satisfied smile. Alright, the next time was to find Felix and Seungmin. From what you heard before they left, they supposedly should be in school at the moment.

It shouldn’t be too hard for you to find them. You have Felix’s pajamas and Seungmin’s school blazer. You could ask for directions like a normal human being, holding a normal conversation was still within your capability, but you were most likely going to do it your way.

Pressing Felix’s shirt up to your nose, you inhaled his scent deeply, piling the sensation on top of the one you were already so familiar with after sleeping on the floor next to him for the whole night. And you found yourself growing fonder each time you let Felix’s aroma wrap around your mind.

This shouldn’t be too hard, finding him.

* * *

School was usually a stressful place for the boys. The boring classes and the rushing hour between the end-of-lunch-break bell and the start-of-class bell, all of those. But they both found it rather healing this time when as soon as lunchtime started, they found a space in the school’s open yard by the gate, where there were lesser students and more air to breathe.

It was the first time since you did they finally got the chance to talk about what had happened and how they truly felt about the situation and they talked none stop for the whole entire lunch session, expressing their thoughts and fears with utmost honesty.

It was mostly just Seungmin who spoke, though. Felix let him talk as much as he wanted since he was mainly the reason why they found you in the first place, and through finding you Seungmin also discovered a lot of family secrets he never knew, like how he could indeed cast spells or how his mother came from a family of werewolf hunters.

It shook him up quite a lot whenever he thought about it. He was pretty proud of his own magical ability, for sure. It was one of the coolest things he’d ever possessed aside from the many weird tickets his father used to get him during business trips.

But of course, with gain comes loss, it seemed like you could never have just one of the two.

While doing rituals and discovering a whole universe of other-worldly creatures living among humans brought Seungmin immense joy by solely letting him gain more knowledge of the mystical world, it also brought him a wave of doubt and startlement whenever he sees his mother acting far too casual around him, as if she never did anything she did.

“Can you please have more faith in your mother?” Felix asked, trying for the millionth times to convince Seungmin to drop his almost irrational assumption about his mother being the reason for his father’s death.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t see the possibilities, he had heard Seungmin link the pieces up before and he too was pretty persuaded, but Felix didn’t think it was the kind of stress Seungmin should be facing at this age.

Having the idea that your own mother would choose a horrible family tradition over you was just not the kind of situation Seungmin should be facing. Therefore, he kept trying to sooth down the burn in his best friends’ heart by telling him the situation wouldn’t be the way he assumed it to be.

Seungmin smiled bitterly, “I try, I really try. But seeing her every night when she gets back home from work makes me think whether she was out working or… you know… doing whatever it is that she’s been doing.”

Felix’s shoulders slumped in sympathy. Every child has a fair share of things they fear about their parents. Felix has his own set regarding his mother, how she could be aggressive after a long day of work or the look she gives whenever he made a terrible mistake. Everything on the list just appeared trivial now that he compared them to Seungmin’s problems.

Felix could not imagine ever handling the truth about his mother being a killer.

“My mom made these dumplings this morning, you can have some…” He said slowly, sliding over the bento box to Seungmin’s side.

“I was already eating them,” Seungmin said, picking one piece up with his hand and popping into his mouth anyway.

Felix shrugged, “Then have more.”

“Great, I am getting pity dumplings,” Seungmin said sardonically after giving a laughing Felix a pointed stare. He leaned on his back, his forearms propping up against the blades of grass as he looked up at the sky of medium brightness. “We’ve been talking an awful lot about me, what about you? How are you feeling?”

Felix chewed on his food, shrugging a little at his not very abnormal experience, “Nothing much. I mean, I am very intrigued about everything that has happened and what leads up to them–”

“Mostly witches, they created vampires and werewolves with curses,” Seungmin cut in.

“Right, thanks,” Felix nodded casually, matching up with Seungmin’s pace easily, “As I was saying, I am very interested but other than that, nothing too out of the ordinary has happened.”

“Nothing too out of the ordinary? What is up with you, Felix?” Seungmin said with a tinge of an accusing tone. He sat up straight then, “We named a werewolf yesterday, and said werewolf not only threatened to kill your mother for you but they also slept in your room. And for the love of god, you even know they have a thing for head pats!”

“Yes, I was there when all of that happened,” Felix said with furrowed brows, his voice tuning down to a straight, dull voice. “What is your point?”

“My point is you made a werewolf friend, and if I may add, a pretty cute looking one,” Seungmin threw Felix a small wink, “How are you feeling about that?”

Felix’s eyes widened. Seungmin really had no business throwing in such a flirtatious looking wink in this context, what did he think would be the answer? That Felix decided it’s been a whole day already and you two should run off somewhere and live together forever? No! Felix wasn’t irrational like that!

It was just that you had a rather unique aura to you. You were honest and straightforward, which Felix supposed was a very charming point because he wouldn’t have to worry about what you were thinking most of the time. You were a little violent but it was for a good reason because, like you have made it clear countless times, it was to protect him.

You liked him, you expressed your feelings towards him the way he never expected you would: this quickly and so honest. He loved that, really, he loved that he didn’t have to worry about gathering himself together and he didn’t have to worry about falling down the black hole of being awkward in social interaction with someone unfamiliar, because you already made it clear you like him.

And you have this genuine vibe to you that told Felix he would never have to worry about himself around you because you would never ever judge him or be picky with who he is as a person.

Felix gulped a little at his structured thoughts. He was appreciating you a little too much for having only met you for one day but what else is surprising anymore? His best friend is a warlock and he has a werewolf friend now, he could practically take any news flying his way.

“Hey, you guys!”

Oh, no, this isn’t one of them.

Seungmin looked up at the girl who was approaching and he waved dismissively, “Hey. Felix, it’s Hana, say hi.”

“Hey,” Felix said, lowering his head as he slapped his cheeks with his hands. For the longest time he tried not to make the crush he has for this girl obvious and every time she approaches, he fails. Hana probably knew by now and he was often left in bewilderment to why she hadn’t left any signals about it.

She knelt down next to Felix then, a smile on her lips as she elegantly smoothed out her uniform skirt, “Just dropping by to say hi. My friend is in lunch detention so I have no one to spend today’s lunchtime with.”

“Don’t you have other friends?” Seungmin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hana shrugged, knowing Seungmin meant absolutely no offense by that, “Yeah but I want to spend some time with you both too. You two are my friends, right Felix?”

He almost choked on his saliva, still hadn’t glanced up from his fidgeting fingers due to how nervous he was being. He couldn’t trust himself to give even a simple answer at the moment, just a small nod of agreement was beyond his control, he thought.

“Felix! Seungmin!”

The duo called snapped their head up at your shout, their eyes widened in unison as they searched for where the voice came from. Felix, who was previously a nervous wreck, got up on his feet to give himself a clearer sight of the school’s yard while Seungmin slowly repeated his movement, his eyes darting from side to side.

Both were unsure whether you were actually here or whether they had been stressing over you too much they started hearing hallucinations of your voice, but your silhouette running towards them told them you were for real in their school’s ground.

You sped up when you saw the two standing on a spot near the school gate, running towards them until they were within your reach and stopping abruptly with a laugh bubbling pass your lips. You grinned at the two then, happy at your success in escaping the sheriff station, “Hello!”

“(Name)…ho–how did you get here?” Felix asked first, placing his hands on your shoulders as he looked past your shoulder to see whether you were followed by an authoritative figure. When he turned back to look at you, he was a little taken back by the proud twinkles in your eyes.

“After the asking game, the sheriff put me in a cell and locked me up. They have me in these round things–”

“They put you in handcuffs?” Felix asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, but I got out of them, they are pretty easy to break. What are they for anyway?” You waved your hand, ignoring the way Seungmin snickered from the back and the unfamiliar girl standing up into your view. “And then I broke the black thing where the officer put his card in.”

“The key scanner, you broke it?” Seungmin raised his eyebrows, “That is pretty cool. Great job!”

You looked over at him, nodding with a proud smile and giving Felix an answer to the cause of those gleams in your eyes. You thoughts it was cool and great that you got yourself out of short jail time, and for sure, it was pretty cool to know handcuffs didn’t work on you, but Felix found this situation more troublesome than anything.

“I got my claws back too!” You said then, displaying them up in the air for the two to see.

Seungmin widened his eyes quickly and reached out to shove your hand down in an abrupt movement while Felix raised his arms out in a panic mess, waving it around to hopefully cause a distraction for those who were looking at the random person who trespassed the school ground and wondering where the hell was security?

“You’ve had them the whole time, I assure you. You just hadn’t gained control back yet, but I think you did a few minutes ago so congratulations to you, (Name)!” Seungmin smiled, “Just never show them in public, okay? Never again.”

With a disappointed pout on your face, all coming from the lack of enthusiasm towards what you were so happy about, you let your claws return back to where they came from and your hands returned to a normal looking hand once again. Felix could almost sense the littlest amount of sulkiness from just your aura altogether but he didn’t get the chance to say anything before Hana, who had been standing at the back, decided to introduce herself.

“Hey, my name is Hana. You are?” She held her hands out, waiting for you to take it.

Slowly and surely, Seungmin stepped back so he would be standing behind the girl, and over her shoulder, he nodded at you with a flare in his eyes that screamed approval. He was telling you to lower your caution towards this girl and you listened despite your unknown hatred towards her.

“(Name),” you took her hand, unmoving until she had to manually shake it herself.

She pursed her lips then, “I haven’t seen you anywhere before, where are you from?”

“I think I used to live in the–”

The sudden babbles of noises from Seungmin and Felix when you were about to tell her the truth made Hana jump a little and you furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. Seungmin did just give you a signal to reply but he was expecting you to say you were currently living in Felix’s home, but he wasn’t sure if Felix would let you say that under Hana’s presence, though.

Seungmin wasn’t sure if Felix wanted to make it seem like he was more available, and this was the one thing he would make fun of Felix for no matter when.

Hana tilted her pretty head to the side, “I’m sorry?”

“What they really meant, Hana, is… ugh…” Felix gulped, his eyes moving past Hana’s face and onto yours where his gaze hardened as his mind was busy cultivating something off the top of his head. When you gave him a glare, Felix looked away to face the front yard where he stopped his stuttering when he saw a few police cars pulling up by the gate.

“Uh oh, the werewolf patrol is here,” Seungmin whispered after he turned to look at where his best friend was looking. He scratched the back of his neck then, knowing very well who those cars were here for, and he was kind of blaming himself for not predicting this and doing moves of precaution such as hiding you somewhere in the school.

“Alright, Felix, go find (Name) a good hiding place while I will stall the officers,” Seungmin said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got my lying game going on.”

Felix silently cursed, the words coming out under his breath as he eyed the officers coming out of the car. The problem with explaining anything to Hana quickly disappearing from his mind as his main focus was put on the approaching officers and having to keep you out of their sight.

It was rather quick, for him to put Hana aside like this. It was almost surprising if not anything else, but Felix was too slow to realize that.

You hummed when Felix tugged at your hand, looking at him with confusion when he pulled at you to follow him.

“Just come with me, we are going to hide,” he said.

You nodded quickly, without a thought, because if Felix wanted to take you anywhere else, you knew you would go with him.

* * *

Felix wasn’t too sure where he should be bringing you too since if the officers really did plan on searching the whole school for you then no matter where you two hide, they would find you in this confined space with only one exit: the gate. He did think about sneaking away if any of them come near but honestly? Stealth wasn’t one of his very good friends and he doubted it was one of yours too.

Vampires were more stealthy, right? According to all those fiction he schemed through when he was bored in reading period.

“What are we doing here?” You asked when he pulled you behind a tiny, triangular space behind the school’s stairwell. There were a lot of emptied out boxes located on the floor, stacked messily on top of each other next to the janitor’s cleaning utensils.

You watched as he peeked outside carefully, his back pressed up against the wall of the space beneath the school stairwell. Gentle beads of sweat covered the hair around his temple as he gulped in hopes that Seungmin would have the whole problem covered on the other side of the school.

When he turned back around to you, a strangled noise voiced from the back of his throat at how close you had walked up to him without his notice. You stood right in front of him, within sniffing distance where your nose was literally up in his neck—how did he not feel your presence at all?

Maybe werewolves _are_ stealthy.

Or maybe Felix was just far too unguarded around you to have his head pay attention to every little movement you make. That was what Felix didn’t want to believe in, of course, as it only proved Seungmin’s point that he might just be liking you a little, all by confirming all the thoughts he had when Seungmin asked him how he felt about you.

“(Name),” he choked out timidly, putting a hand on your shoulder. He could feel the tip of your nose against the nape of his neck and a blush magnifying on his cheeks. His body was pressed up to the wall now, trying to find a way to slip from under you but at the same time, it was far too rigid to move even a muscle.

“This makes me uncomfortable…” He lied.

You let out a knowing hum then, moving away and standing at an arms distance from him. Felix inwardly breathed out a sigh, a relieved sigh that he was no longer feeling the constricting of his heart and a defeated sigh that it happened because of you.

Once again he began to find reasons to bring the cause of his beating heart far away from his own emotions and more towards logical senses. Telling himself continuously that it happened because you got too close and Felix was generally a shy person so getting close to anyone at all makes him shy, it was defiantly not—

“Is it because of Hana?” You asked curiously, your expression completely relaxed as you crossed your arms in front of you.

Felix blinked in confusion at the mention of her name, “What are you saying?”

“You don’t like me being close to you because you like Hana,” you said, squinting your eyes, “And you feel like you are cheating on your feelings for her when I did that.”

“You know, you’ve been acting pretty dumb but now I am having second thoughts that maybe you are faking your stupidity,” Felix pointed out and you frowned with a shrug at his assumption (and the fact that he thought you were dumb, that was rather uncalled for). When you didn’t say anything back, urging him to answer your question, he shook his head, “No, it’s not that. I just… I am not that big of a skin-ship person.”

You nodded, “Really? What if Hana wants to hug you or something?”

Felix laughed, “I would probably… run away or something.”

“Well then, how is she going to know you like her?” Your lips curled downward questioningly, looking at him with such curiosity in your eyes that mocked Felix in every way possible.

The truth was he didn’t know. Romantic was never a trait up his alley. Felix was hopeless, not romantically but tragically. He fumbles with his words, he doesn’t know what to say and when to say it, he never initiates anything. Those were traits that were, obviously, not the deal breaker. There would certainly be people who accept him for who he is, people who embrace the whole package deal with open arms like Seungmin (with just the right amount of sass) and you.

But he also couldn’t tell if he really liked Hana. It was a crush and Felix was never one to give his all to a simple crush that could just end over one night, over a simple snap of his fingers. They were like memos, the glue is strong for a while until it isn’t after you’ve disregarded it for too long, and then you just throw it away.

It was exactly the hesitancy, the lack of commitment, the disregarding of one simple memo that held him back because it was never good when you couldn’t see yourself, exaggeratedly speaking, throw yourself in front of a bullet for that person you supposedly love, right?

“She isn’t going to, I will get over it eventually,” Felix muttered, shrugging dismissively at his feelings.

For sure he would one day. The day he would no longer flush with embarrassment whenever Hana walks near, the day he could hold his head up and his voice clear when he talks to her, the day his love-struck stars cease to exist in a world only the certain loved one lived in—it would come and Felix would feel just fine.

Maybe he really did like Hana.

You hummed, haven’t needed to sniff him out to know he was feeling down over something he helplessly deemed trivial. It was impossible for you to understand the concept of love since no one ever had the time to teach you such a feeling and you were buried underground for more almost half of your life that you couldn’t remember most of anything.

Taking tentative steps towards him, you pressed your lips together into a frown as you lowered your head to meet his downcast gaze. When they met yours, you smiled a little in encouragement and Felix raised an eyebrow at your sudden playful action.

“Do you want a hug?” You asked, trying to find something to distract his mind, “Oh! I can show you my claws!”

Felix giggled, “A hug is fine.”

You smiled, moving up to him and wrapping your arms around his torso comfortingly. Felix laid his head on your shoulder, feeling the weight of the world move away to wherever it has to go as he relaxed into your warm—very very warm, alarmingly warm—embrace.

The smile on his face faded a little when he felt the tip of your nose bushing past his neck again and his heart bloomed while he flashed a defeated smile. Smelling people has become a habit of yours, or maybe it has been a habit of yours since a young age. Felix was rather weirded out by it but you know what, it was fine.

“Why are you sniffing me again though?” He asked

“Sorry,” you quickly removed your face from his neck, giving his shoulder a few pats, “You just smell really nice.”

“It’s probably the lavender detergent.”

“It’s not lavender.”

“Yeah, I know that,” he laughed, “On second thought, maybe I do want to see the claws. Just promise me you won’t scratch me or anything.”

You pulled away, excited that Felix was willing to let you show him something you have discovered on your own this afternoon, but before that, you looked at him with all seriousness first, “I would never hurt you.”

Felix raised an eyebrow at you and you nodded without a thought, “Never.”

It was an instinctive answer and it sounded like a guarantee. His mind clouded with potential as he stared at you, who looked back at him as if nothing would ever stop you from keeping your promise, as if the oath you made him would be very easy to keep.

And Felix supposed he just found another memo within the pile he had. One with very little glue, barely clutching onto the edge of his heart. But this one felt like it was going to stick.

* * *

Felix and Seungmin were urged to the police station before school even ended, having forced to bring you along with them at the end of the day since you couldn’t possibly hide under the stairwell for the rest of the day, and also because Seungmin caved in after a particular threat about involving his mother in this situation.

Seungmin wasn’t scared for himself, he was scared for you. If his mother wasn’t a werewolf hunter he probably wouldn’t have cared much for that measly threat.

They sat on the bench before the working office while you were put back in another jail cell since the electronic keypad for the cell you were previously locked in was broken. Felix nervously rubbed his hands, glancing back and forth between the ground and at you until Seungmin grabbed a hold of his hand and held it tight reassuringly.

“Shit, this is my fault. I should have made them climb the garden fence and just get out of here,” Felix groaned frustratingly, “God, why am I so stupid.”

“Stop blaming yourself, the stairwell is a nice hiding spot, Felix. Do you know how many couples make-out there? Many,” Seungmin said, stealing a glance at you and pursing his lips together when his lost thoughts about what would be happening to you soon.

He wished he could be doing something, maybe casting a spell or so. He had been secretly practicing by himself in the room whenever he had the time to, and even though he was still a bit shaky with controlling how much power he channels at a time, he just thought maybe he could have helped instead of sitting here waiting around for Felix’s mother to arrive.

Besides, in a room full of humans, Seungmin could not be using a spellbook full of destructive spells meant for supernaturals far more physically tolerant for reference. Magic didn’t work the way he wanted it to. It doesn’t seem to work in desperate times, such as right now.

“That doesn’t really help me,” Felix muttered lifelessly. He turned his head over to the entrance of station when he heard an urgent shuffle of feet and saw his mother stomping in with her bag in her hand. His frown deepened, “Neither does that help me.”

“What the hell are you two here at this time?” She marched over to the two boys, her eyes might as well be firing lasers at their faces.

The two didn’t have any chance to answer when an officer walked over with you trailing behind them with a new cuff around your wrist. Felix’s mother turned over to look at you for a brief moment before she returned her gaze back to Felix, her eyes wide in the realization that whatever those two were here for, it had something to do with you.

She pointed at you impatiently, her eyes still trained on Felix’s guilted expression, “I thought the police are handling this. Why are you two involved again?”

Felix opened his mouth to speak but the sudden string of curses coming from Seungmin made his mouth halt to a stop. He turned to him with irritation, looking at Seungmin accusingly for not trying to help out with the situation at all, but the furrow of his brows faded as soon as he saw the horrid gaze in Seungmin’s eyes.

“Fuck, my mom is here, why the hell is she here?” Seungmin rambled under his breath, giving Felix’s heart a run for his life and his mother a curiously confusing thought to why he would curse his mother out like this.

Seungmin quickly side-stepped to cover your form with his body, turning quickly to Felix’s mother as he yelled, “Because this is a prank! A very big prank!”

“What prank–is this one of your father’s stupid leftover ideas again?” Mrs.Kim asked after strutting over to the group gathered together at the side of the lobby of the sheriff station.

Felix could see Seungmin wince at her insensitive words and he bit his own tongue to keep himself from talking. Seungmin’s mother had never shown any form of affection towards him but Felix had always thought it was simply because she was never keen on expressing them in front of everyone else, and that she does it in the privacy of her own home. That was the light-hearted excuse for it.

But Felix knew better now, and he wasn’t going to think too much about it to give himself the benefit of the doubt.

Seungmin nodded as the sheriff walked over due to his words, his hands on his hips. He laughed nervously, wishing he could dig a hole and hide forever, “Yeah, this is one of dad’s prank.”

“Are you serious? I got called out of work to deal with the consequences of your mistake?” Mrs.Kim sighed disappointedly, her tone striking across Seungmin’s chest with the amount of disregard in it.

You could smell his pain, Felix knew it, and without much cooing allowed to be done on his part you might just lash out on everyone here and that would not be a good idea. He squeezed Seungmin’s hand once before he discreetly moved over to the other side, standing before you instead.

He reached his hand behind him, urging you to take it so he could at least attempt to calm your nerves down, and you did slowly. Felix nodded to himself when he felt you slip your hand into his, feeling his chest relax slightly at the touch too.

“This is actually one of Hana’s cousins.”

Oh no, the tension is back up again.

Felix widened his eyes at Seungmin, who was flawlessly excusing a terrible lie in a way that would appear extremely persuasive. He watched as he continued, his mind slowly beginning to comprehend that this might be the only way for them to get out of this.

“Yeah, they have never been here before so I thought it would be the best chance for me to do the missing identity prank on all of you,” Seungmin explained, “And the result is very boring so I guess it failed.”

“It failed on your part! We were working our ass off trying to find this (Name) and you were telling me they aren’t even real? Do you realize how serious this is? Pranking the whole sheriff station, are you out of your mind?”

“Hey, I think that’s enough,” Mrs.Kim cut in, turning her head to the sheriff. “His father left those stupid pranks for him to use so let him use it.”

Seungmin’s lips arched downward at the mention of his father, no longer able to maintain his usual carefree demeanor. He heaved a heavy sigh and quickly spun on his heels and headed straight out the door. You and Felix watched his back, both concerned for his emotional well-being that you both thought of doing the same thing: go after him.

Ignoring the shouting of the adult, you pulled your hands apart to break the chain between your handcuffs and you two ran out of the station hand in hand so you could drag Felix along with you.

Seungmin hadn’t made it too far, he stood somewhere on the other side of the street where he leaned against a lamppost for support. When you two approached, he turned around with a tearful scoff and quickly fanned himself to keep the tears away.

You let go of Felix and gestured towards Seungmin, knowing there weren’t much you could be doing at this moment. Felix sighed sadly as he stepped up next to his best friends, looking straight ahead as he was doing and he waited for Seungmin to talk.

He’d known Seungmin long enough to know pity wasn’t something Seungmin wish to receive from anyone. Just a few moments of silence where he could be free to rant, to let his heart out, was already good enough for him, none of those meaningless words of comfort about how things would be better but they almost never will.

And there was no one else he would allow to have heard about his troubles than Felix.

“I know I said I am over dad’s death and I really was,” Seungmin muttered, staring ahead with spots of tears staining his vision, “But he kept coming back to me. Those journals, those stupid pranks, the useless magic. He is everywhere again and I… I miss him, Felix.”

Felix hummed knowingly. Seungmin should. He should miss his father, he should grieve for his father, because they had a close relationship and Seungmin loved him. It would be more disheartening if Seungmin felt fine about his father’s death, that would only mean his memories with him wasn’t as significant.

Seungmin appreciated the lack of words to fill this sentimental moment. It was just him and his best friend, standing side by side and looking ahead at a red fire hydrant far down the street. And it was absolutely the most remarkable feeling he has ever felt. He was calm and there was nothing more to that, but it was enough.

Sniffing in the tears, Seungmin smacked his lips before he turned to look at Felix, “Anyway, is (Name) okay?”

“Yes, thanks to you,” you spoke finally, smiling when Seungmin turned around to see you, “Do you want a hug?”

Seungmin smiled, “I would love one.”

You let out a short hum when you clutched the back of his shirt tightly. You gave his back a few harsh pats, earning a small groan from him, “Thank you for the blazer, it helped me out a lot today.”

“No problem,” Seungmin replied, “What are friends for, am I right?”

You chuckled. He said that with such hesitancy this morning, not that you had doubted him or anything. You pursed your lips together before you suggested, “I can kill someone for you.”

“Oh, we had a moment there and now it’s ruined!” Seungmin pulled away with a playful frown before he turned to Felix, “Anyway, wanna head back and continue with the prank? I’ve got a pretty deliberate background plan for (Name), who is Hana’s cousin now.”

Felix wanted to groan at Seungmin’s choice of the path but it was all too late for him to change now, so he nodded determinedly. Seungmin clapped his hands then, ready to burst off into a bubble chart he would be drawing in thin air.

Seungmin needed this to work because he wanted to keep you here, just as much as Felix did.

* * *

Things have gotten worse for you ever since the lie about you being Hana’s cousin was revealed. You wouldn’t have an excuse to be staying with Felix anymore and Seungmin still wasn’t sure about you being in his home when his mother was present, so now it was all just a game of hide-and-seek where you meet them at school and sneak into Felix’s home in the middle of the night so you could sleep with a roof over your head.

But it was fine. You were still here with them and that was all any of you could ask for.

Seungmin had been getting more chances to try out spells and practice his magic, and despite your many offers, he refused to use you as test experiments on certain spells. He had also been continuing the green journal of your growing progress, except this time there were more stapled polaroid pictures and actual information of your strengths and limits than mere sketches with date and age.

“Hey, you guys!” You greeted excitedly when you saw the two approach after school came to an end.

“Hey, Little Doe.”

Right. Seungmin still hasn’t gotten rid of that nickname yet.

Felix smiled at you and gave you a small hug, having been thinking about you for a little throughout the periods after lunch. Since Seungmin’s home wasn’t available, you spent all of your nights at his home instead and that gave you two a lot of chances to bond over the smallest things.

One particular thing that just etched itself into Felix’s mind, though, was the cuddling. He couldn’t even remember when it happened for the first time but he could sit down and recite every single groundbreaking moments of his beating heart each time you put your arms around him after sneaking under his covers.

It started with you complaining about his teeth clattering when the weather started to get colder at night and Felix somehow refused to get any more blankets for his tiny bed. You went under his covers that night to keep him warm since you, being a werewolf, were naturally very warm.

Felix had choked on his own words when you suddenly hugged him in the middle of the night, his hands reaching out to place themselves on your shoulder as a question flew past his lips. And he had denied your help at first but the more you dragged him to you, the more he felt the warmth radiating off your body and transferring to him.

The way you nuzzled your nose to his hair just gave him more solace than he could ever ask for, finding that being the small spoon was surprisingly extremely rewarding due to how protected and loved he felt.

And Felix just melted into you like snow to rain, completely softened and calmed, with his eyes fluttering close and a string of empty protest slurring out of his sleepy lips. It was one of the best night sleep he had ever gotten in his entire life, second next to the two-day rest he got after his ninth-grade finals week.

Scratch that, it topped the chart, for both you and him. Felix was never going to admit that to your face but just between him and his pathetically oblivious heart, the reason why he still refused to grab more blankets for himself was that he wanted you to cuddle him at night.

“This is great, you two are learning to flirt with each other in your hearts to spare my picky ears,” Seungmin said jokingly after giving you two a second too long to hug each other, “I am so glad you learned what flirting is, Little Doe, and I am happy that you finally learned how to flirt, Felix.”

“I am going to kill you,” Felix said through gritted teeth, a forced smile prominent on his face as he slapped Seungmin across the back, causing the boy to stumble forward.

Seungmin laughed with an opened mouth, genuinely in a phase of amusement at how Felix was so easily shaken up with anything regarding you. You three started walking then, heading out of the school gate as Seungmin started, “So I was thinking we can head over to my home. Mom went on a two-day business trip, I hope it’s a business trip, she isn’t going to be home until the tomorrow night so I was thinking we can fill the green journal a bit more.”

“You just want an excuse to use your polaroid camera,” Felix pointed out.

Seungmin waved his hand, “Duh, I will take any chance to make you look pretty because only my photography skills can do that nowadays.”

“(Name), cover us, I’m gonna kill him.”

“Yeah, like (Name) is ever going to let you kill me,” Seungmin rolled his eyes confidently. His eyes settled on you then and his brows furrowed at the bashful smirk on your face. He placed a hand on his chest, “Will you? Wait, hold on, Little Doe. Is it me or Felix?”

You looked at Seungmin with a few innocent blinks of your lashes, “I will never have to make a choice like that.”

Seungmin’s hand dropped and his expression rendered Felix into a laughing fit, “So you choose Felix.”

“I love you, Seungmin, I promise,” you said.

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah but I guess it will never beat you being in love with Felix.”

“Who says I am?” You smiled, feeling your ribcage shake with fluttery when Seungmin took the words right out of your mouth. But you have to lie a little this time since out of many things you’ve learned for the past months, one of those was that love was far too unpredictable for you to rely on and waiting for the right timing was just another agonizing process.

You not having a guarantee that Felix liked you back the way you did him was exactly the signal that maybe you shouldn’t be too upfront about your feelings yet.

“I am just very loyal to the both of you because you’re both apart of my family now. I love both of you an equal amount.”

Felix’s laughter ceased at your words and what potential meaning it held. And somehow his chest gulped with bitterness when you said that you love him and Seungmin the same amount. It felt like a stab to his heart, he wanted more than that, he wanted something Seungmin wouldn’t be able to get.

Seungmin hummed, changing the subject when the tension got a little tough, “So? Wanna head over to my home?”

“What for?”

You three turned around to find Hana standing before you guys. You inhaled sharply at her presence while the other two greeted her normally, maybe a little nervously due to the lie they had told. It was a miracle no one asked any questions yet.

“For a study session, nothing much,” Seungmin lied with a shrug.

“Oh, that’s fun.”

“See, Hana. Fun and study aren’t two words that match,” Seungmin said.

Hana sighed a little in annoyance, “I know that, but you know what I mean. Anyway, can I tag along?”

You stepped back a little to let the two handle the situation. Seungmin’s mouth hung open, already ready to reject the offer when Felix suddenly nodded, “Yeah, sure.”

“What the fu–Felix?” Seungmin snapped his head over to him, his brows furrowed in confusion.

Felix turned to him questioningly and the two started to communicate through a series of head shakes and eye shifts. To be truthful, Felix hadn’t known why he agreed either. He was as confused as Seungmin about why the words just flew out of his mouth. It wasn’t like he still has a thing for Hana anyway, all the stuttering and blushing were long gone from his system.

He was doing those because of you now. If only his heart would comprehend it.

“Let’s just go, we don’t have a lot of time,” you cut in and said, blinking up at Seungmin with a knowing shrug to tell him that whatever he originally wanted to do, there could still be a way to do it.

Felix furrowed his brows at your silent interaction with him but he complied.

Oh, if only his heart would comprehend it his feelings.

* * *

Seungmin was bitter for almost the entirety of the study session he paid absolutely zero attention to. Felix could sense it, from the way his eyes flashed boredom in them as he flipped his textbook to the dead tone in his voice whenever he speaks, and he did realize he might have made a mistake when he said yes to Hana’s self-invitation. This was supposed to be an hour of impulsively taking pictures and filling out his journals, not mindlessly flipping pages they’ve already read through in class under the midst of awkward silence.

You, on the other hand, could tell Felix was getting rather fed up with Seungmin’s attitude, but he wasn’t saying anything about it partly due to Hana’s presence. But with you holding the idea that consoling him right in front of the girl he liked might not appear to be the best move yet, you decided to turn your attention to Seungmin instead.

Just scooting closer to Seungmin. Real smart there, (Name).

Felix’s eyes moved up from his worksheet when he heard a few shuffling on the carpet underneath the tea table where utensils and papers were scattered on and his eyebrow raised in dismay at the sight of you sitting unusually close to Seungmin, your head lowered to meet his eyes as if you two were communicating solely with your gazes.

What the hell, Felix really thought that was their thing, just him and Seungmin. Apparently not anymore.

“Are you okay?” You mouthed, widening your eyes to emphasize your curiosity.

Seungmin pursed his lips together and shrugged. He wasn’t exactly mad, just a little frustrated, but he had been putting up the whole “being mad” act—also called being dramatic for no apparent reason—for too long to just let it go and act as if nothing happened.

“What do you want to test out anyway? I thought we already have everything down,” you whispered.

“Well, for one,” he inhaled in thoughts, “full moon is coming.”

“Okay?”

“Full moon, Little Doe,” Seungmin said, looking at you as a matter of factly even though he really shouldn’t be expecting you to know any of that. “The night where you are forced to transform and where you kill absolutely anything that comes into your sight? That full moon?”

You shook your head gently at his description, having a hard time believing you would be killing anything anytime sooner. But Seungmin was looking a little too serious to be joking at all so, in all honesty, you should consider his words. Your eyes rounded and your lips arched down, “What are you planning to do about that?”

Seungmin shrugged, “I don’t know? Lock you in a room and chain you down or something? Since we already know a handcuff is not good enough for you.”

“You can still use it, just for precaution,” you nodded, “Chains… like the really big ones? I think they would be pretty nice. You can like… chain me to the bedpost or something.”

Hana cleared her throat, her head lowered and her hair fell down to her side to keep away an amused giggle. Seungmin snapped his head up at the reaction, only realizing how you not only (a) haven’t been talking in your most hushed voice so anyone sitting only three steps away from you could hear you faintly and (b) god, your wordings! Your stupid wordings are gonna cause some misunderstandings, wasn’t it?

Looking at Felix and rolling his eyes, Seungmin turned to you, “I’m gonna locked you in a room with a spell. Let me see if I can find one.” He stood up then, running off to the stairs so he could head back up to his room.

You, misunderstanding that he wanted to test out the spell right now, quickly stood up too and followed suit. Felix’s eyes trailed after you, his hand moving to tap his pen on the table impatiently at the mere thought of you and Seungmin being alone, especially after the extremely badly structured sentences you uttered out.

Hana watched after your two with a pursed smile and she giggled when you two were out of sight. She turned to Felix and tilted her head, “When did they start dating?”

Felix inhaled sharply, looking down at the sheet of paper filled with questions, finding himself getting more irritated by second, “They aren’t dating.”

“Really? It sounds like they are. I mean who mentions handcuffs and chains in a normal conversation?” Hana laughed, “Sounds like those two are having fun.”

“They’re not,” Felix retorted immediately. Realizing his sudden agitation, he gave himself some time to calm down, to smooth out the jealousy—

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath as he pressed a hand to his beating heart. His eyes widened a fraction as he clutched his shirt, cranking his brain to think about something involving you with literally anybody else and finding out how those scenarios kept sending him kicks through the stomach and knot up his throat. He didn’t like them, at all.

But when his mind traveled back to all the nights you spent with him. When you could stay up with him if he needed to study or when he had to hide you away from his mother’s sight by covering you up with his body and your warm body could be all pressed up close against his, your giggles muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

That, that Felix loves.

And so he cursed again. This was a classic case of being jealous and he was acknowledging it.

“Can you give me a second, Hana,” Felix stood up, his eyes trailing after the staircase. He was planning to go upstairs to join you both. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do but if he was to allow your two one more second of alone time at such a vulnerable state he would explode.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just… I just need to–”

The lock to the front door turned obnoxiously loud, disrupting Felix’s train of thoughts as it opened grandly and Seungmin’s mother came marching into the house, exuding a different kind of authority she never used to until the truth was secretly revealed.

Felix’s eyes went dark for a moment as he stared at the woman who walked through the doors and took off her shoes, sweat forming and drowning him like quicksand. Quickly snapping his mind out of his fearful trance, he didn’t bother to greet Mrs.Kim as he turned his head to upstairs and shouted, “Hey! Seungmin! Your mom is home!”

“No need to shout, Felix, it’s not like he cares when I’m home anyway,” Mrs.Kim said as she walked towards to dining table and set her bag down. Her eyes flew past the boy to Hana and she raised an eyebrow, “And you are?”

Hana stood up, reasonably intimidated, “Hello, my name is Hana.”

Mrs.Kim hummed, “Oh, you are the girl with the prankster cousin… what was their name again? Haneul or something?”

Hana looked utterly confused, her head tilting honestly to the side as she tried to form words to say. Felix watched her eyes swirl with ideas and more beads of sweat rolling down his temple.

“I don’t have a–”

“We are all here for a study date, I’m sorry we didn’t notify you beforehand!” Felix cut in quickly, pushing himself against Hana’s side as he bent down to collect all his and Hana’s belongings. “I think we’ve been here for long enough!”

“Hey, mom, why are you here?” Seungmin hopped down the stairs soon enough and his eyes focused on his mother instead of the busy duo trying to clean up after themselves by the tea table.

“This is my home, why can’t I be here?”

“You know what, I’m not even gonna argue with you right now, mom,” Seungmin ran a hand through his hair. She really could have just answered the goddamn question like a normal human being but no.

“Well, we’ll be going,” Felix said when he zipped up his bag. With his hand on the small of Hana’s back, he began to gently push the girl forward despite her small demand to understand the situation. You followed after Felix after receiving a knowing glance from Seungmin.

You were careful not to look at his mother, but you could feel his mother’s eyes on you somehow.

* * *

After some very half-assed explaining from Felix about yet another one of Seungmin’s made up prank, Hana and you two parted ways. When you two approached Felix’s house, you quickly headed to the back of the house so you could sneak in at night later.

You tapped on Felix’s balcony window after the lights in his house were all off. He looked up from his bed to find you peeking through his sheer curtains with a wave and he quickly got off the bed to slide open the glass doors for you to head in. The touch of metal on the balcony handle was icy and when the door was opened, Felix shivered at the sudden rush of wind chasing each other to find a shelter in his room.

“It’s really cold outside, Felix,” you said, feeling the smallest bit of your hair standing on your neck and some goosebumps landing on your arms and legs. You gave his messy bed a look and frowned, “You’re still not going to get yourself an extra blanket?”

He shut the door and locked it before he turned around to see you looking behind your shoulder at him. The moonlight hit the strands of your hair and your pair of naturally beaming eyes. It was creating a glittery effect around you as if magic flew through you very being—magic does, in fact, flows through your body, but it was a much different context in Felix’s case.

Wordlessly, he stepped up to you and, with both of his arms wrapped around your torso, he pushed you down onto his bed with his own weight and he let himself lay on top of your for a moment with both of your legs dangling off the bed.

It wasn’t the werewolf genes, it wasn’t the fact that your body was basically a walking heater, it wasn’t that you could always know what he was feeling. Not that kind of magic. It was the more mundane kind of magic.

It was more how you make him so shaken up with every little thing you do yet you could also make him so calm by just covering your hands with his. Or that you were always so willing to do everything for him, including showing him affection and choosing him over anyone else. Or the fact that you managed to change his beliefs in regards to crushes being a waste of time by indirectly making him acknowledge just how much he feels for you.

It was that kind of magic, the kind that involves love.

It was the more mundane kind of magic. The most complicated kind yet also the most rewarding kind, because you couldn’t find it anywhere. No amount of vampire bites or werewolf howls could get you a doze of those.

“Are you okay?” You asked, brushing your hand through his hair as you tried to sniff out his emotions, but he was fine. He was in his natural element, his normal scent: refreshing and boyish… and something else you couldn’t quite put your fingers on.

It was pretty strong but you couldn’t tell what it was.

“I am more than fine like this,” Felix nodded with his cheek on your chest, “Can I ask you something?”

You nodded, “Always.”

“Do you like Seungmin?”

“Yeah,” you replied.

“What about me?”

“Yeah, I really like you,” you replied honestly.

Oh, it was getting stronger.

Felix breathed out an airy laugh. You were really warm, the warmth embraced him like a blanket fort and your arms acted as a cradle to slowly send him to a peaceful sleep. He was really planning to talk more, to get his feelings across somehow and see if you felt the same as he did, but with this amount of comfort he was receiving? It was nearly impossible unless he detaches himself from you.

He was never going to.

“Who would you choose between me and Seungmin?” He asked drowsily.

You hummed, “I would never have to choose between you two.”

“Hypo…hypothetically… if we both confessed to you, who would you choose?” Felix asked, snuggling closer to you due to the coldness of his room.

Having noticed his sleepiness, you clung your arm around his body and moved both of your up the bed until only your feet dangled at the edge. Not even bothering to return you two to the normal sleeping position, you simply removed the blanket from underneath you and draped it over Felix’s back.

Your hands found their way back to his hair and you stared up at the dark ceiling.

“(Name)…?”

“You,” you replied, “I would choose you.”

The scent came full circle, shifting just right beneath your nose and trespassing into your head like a deep dark secret, something just between you and him. It made your chest heave and your eyes bright with epiphany, and you seemed to hold onto Felix even tighter than before.

It was love, and it smelt like lavender.

* * *

“Didn’t they get out of these last time?”

Seungmin snatched the handcuffs away from Felix immediately when the latter started dangling it in mid-air. With a scoff, Seungmin returned his attention to you and urged you to hold your hands out so he could put the meals around your wrist.

“I know, but we probably need as much as we can get here,” Seungmin said, making sure your arms were positioned correctly so you couldn’t be able to slip right off the circles. He reached down to grab the chains he had shamelessly bought from a local store then, bringing it up around your body and walking in circles around you, “See, I am trying to help here unlike a certain someone named Felix who just sits around and watches me prepare.”

“What is up with the full moon anyway?” Felix asked, tilting his head to the side as he approached you both and grabbed a bag of gray powder-like material. He shook it a few times, examining it with faint interest, “What are these?”

“Silver ground up with magic, all made by me… except for the silver, I stole them from the basement,” Seungmin replied, “Just in case the full moon makes (Name) go completely berserk and they can’t recognize even us two. We just throw these at their face and it will burn like a bitch.”

“Thank you,” you added from the side.

Seungmin threw you a smile, “I love you. Enough to throw silver at you so you won’t have to live with the guilt of accidentally killing your two best friends.”

Felix looked between you and Seungmin, finding the icky swirls in his heart lessening after what you told him that night. He never once brought it up, though, and neither did you actually. You two seemed to be content enough living by stolen glances and night cuddling—an exclusive relationship yet to be made official.

“I am not going to kill you,” you rolled your eyes, looking up at the moon, “See? The moon is full and I feel absolutely fine. Now untie me, this is making my skin hurt!”

Seungmin shook his head, “Let’s wait a little more. Like fifteen minutes, then we see if it’s suitable for us to untie you.”

“Maybe their parents taught them how to control it before they went into a coma and they somehow remembered, that could be possible?” Felix suggested.

“Yes, that they remember but not their own name?”

“Hey, the method to the calming of one’s heart is… in one’s heart.”

“I am going to kill you,” Seungmin deadpanned, holding up the plastic bag of ground silver, “This will burn a werewolf but I’m sure if I roll it in a piece of newspaper and shove it up your ass, it will burn just the same.”

“You are very vulgar, Seungmin, are you sure you are not one of those full moon folks?”

“Alright, that’s it,” Seungmin threw the bag of silver on the floor, failing to acknowledge how the ziplock bag puffed open and the silver dust scattered across the air.

The dangerous smell of silver wafted before your nose then, fully triggering your werewolf instinct. For a second there you were fine, still trying to process the sudden smell of such a deadly powder, and the next was all blurry to you as your eyes gleamed gold and your claws involuntarily grew out of your flesh.

Felix’s eyes briefly glanced over you in the middle of his banter with Seungmin and he paused completely. Your face was transformed into something almost beyond recognition, you did not look like you at all with the fur and the thick lines on your face.

Your name left Felix’s lips in a whisper then but you heard him completely, and your senses seemed to be feeding off his fearful voice as you opened your mouth to show your fangs, dripping with saliva.

Both him and Seungmin stumbled back quickly when you let out an alarming loud growl and lunged for them, but before you could do anything, a quick flash of a figure moved before the boys’ eyes and the next thing they saw was a blond-haired man pushing you to the nearby tree with his arm across your chest and your neck.

“You, warlock, over here now!”

Seungmin widened his eyes but he complied nonetheless, “Who are you?”

“Chan–do you know the fainting spell?”

“Uh… I… I think I–”

“You think you know or you don’t know?” Chan asked, busy trying to keep your angry state pushed back against the tree. You were thrashing about so much that he was surprised he was actually having a hard time trying to contain you.

“I don’t know.”

“Fine, what about–shit,” he hissed out a little in pain when you sunk your fangs into his forearm, leaving trails of his own blood down his skin. He pushed his arm up then, so your head was forced upwards to face the sky.

Felix stepped up at the aggressive way Chan was treating you, his brows furrowed in concern and horror at the same time, “Hey, you’re hurting them!”

“I know,” Chan nodded, still pushing against you, “Warlock. Do you know an aneurysm spell?”

Seungmin did. His father’s spell books were labeled alphabetically, and since the spell was so horrifyingly useful Seungmin had it memorized since the moment he read about it. With a shake of his head, he refused, “I am not giving my best friend an aneurysm.”

“They will heal.”

“I am not hurting them.”

Chan narrowed his eyes impatiently. God, he hates kids. “Fine, have it your way,” he muttered before quickly removing his hands and darting away to stand in a safe distance.

Given the chance to run free, you quickly took it, returning your focus back on your original task which was lunging yourself at Seungmin and Felix. Seungmin sighed, holding his hand out with an apologetic smile as he chanted quietly under his breath.

Felix was surprised to see you halt to a painful stop and your hands reaching out to your hair. Screams of pain made the birds fly away as you dropped on your knees with your claws dug in your scale from the popping of your blood vessels.

Felix’s eyes teared up at the agonizing scream. He looked over at Seungmin and back at you, hating himself for not being able to do anything to solve this situation, to relief Seungmin’s emotional turmoil of having to hurt you like this or to help you regain control of your sanity.

Or maybe he could, if he was brave enough to take the first step.

Seungmin placed a hand on Felix’s shoulder when he took a step towards you. He shook his head furiously, urging Felix to let it go and that he would continue this for the whole night if it was what he absolutely has to do. But Felix shook him off gently with a smile before he continued to walk over to your hunched body.

He knelt down in front of you, his eyes still teary but they were soft and endearing. He reached out carefully to take a hold of your hands and you snapped your head up to look at him. Felix remained unfazed, forcing himself down to the calmest level possible in hopes that his own tranquility would rub off on you.

You snarled painfully, but Seungmin had toned down the spell a little for whatever Felix was attempting to do. Chan stood behind with an intrigued look in his eyes, watching the silent teamwork unfold before his very eyes.

“It’s me,” Felix said gently, taking your hands in his, “It’s Felix.”

Your growls had turned into light grumbles without yourself knowing why. Felix’s scent was reminding you of something very important and your head kept telling you this wasn’t the person you’d want to scratch your claws on.

“I don’t care,” you grumbled out, trying to find the strength to fight back but your bones were only weakening before him.

“Yeah you do,” Felix said, his shaky hands slowly halting to a stop as his mind associated with the warmth of your hands with the image of you giving him the most protective hug every night as he falls asleep. And suddenly things weren’t so scary for him anymore.

Felix smile at you fondly, putting your palms to each side of his cheeks and pressing them close, “Because you really like me… do you?”

You gasped in shock. His loving voice went in and out of your ears in echos, reminding you of every single moment your heart ever burned with love for Lee Felix. Your eyes widened dramatically then, the golden gleam shining brightly before it slowly faded back to your original color, the one where playfulness and carefreeness laid behind.

Seungmin’s hand dropped when you dropped to the ground with an exhausted groan. Felix’s arms went around you and he sat down on the ground, cradling you in his embrace. He smiled down at you, wiping the sweat from your forehead and moving away strands of hair from your face, “You’re okay, you’re okay.”

When Seungmin approached you two, he knelt down next to you two and the churning of his chest went away as soon as he made eye contact with you. He placed a hand on your head and gave you a few comforting pats.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized.

You shook your head meekly, “Don’t worry. I know you love me… enough to give me a migraine so I can’t kill you both.”

Seungmin laughed then, unable to resist the urge to plant a chaste kiss on your temple to compensate for what he had done on the inside of your brain. Hopefully, you were all healed up at this point.

A throat clearing emerged from the sidelines and you three both looked over in unison. Chan stood with his hands in his pockets and his brows raised as he glanced over your face.

“That was nice to watch,” he said, clapping his hands, “I haven’t seen a werewolf around here in a long time.”

Seungmin squinted his eyes doubtfully at him, “Aren’t you one?”

“Oh yes, I used to be one until I got bit by a vampire,” Chan nodded, “Now I’m both. And you, (Name)…”

You raised an eyebrow at him.

“I think I know you.”

* * *

Neither Felix nor Seungmin were too happy with Chan being an addition to the group. You seemed to be pretty fine with it since Chan had been teaching you a lot of werewolves things you would previously have to discover on your own.

You learned that you could absorb pain, just transfer it right into your own body, which was a pretty useful trait you thought would come in handy sometimes. And you learned about how to control yourself during full moon even without Felix or Seungmin’s help, even though you were pretty sure your anchor was Felix and no other.

But those weren’t the reason why you were so drawn to Chan. It was because he had a few encounters with your family before they were killed, and he supposedly had seen you when you were too young to have remembered his existence. The tales he told about your parents and your relatives, the pack you were supposed to be in, were all so fascinating to you.

You were extremely drawn to Chan, and it was rather reasonable for Felix to dislike him. But for Seungmin, his feelings were more nonchalant until Chan suggested to take you under his wing and head somewhere else to start a new life with creatures exactly like you. “To head to a safer place,” Seungmin would mockingly say whenever Chan casually pops up into the conversation.

Not only was he offended that Chan didn’t think you could be safe with him and Felix, but he also hated the idea of having another person he cared for be taken away from him. It was his father who died, and then his mother whose presence got harder to bear—he only has Felix and he only has you. Seungmin was not going to lose anyone else.

And he was very glad when you denied Chan’s offer, telling him firmly that you wanted to stay with your two best friends instead because it was already beaten into your system that you would never leave them behind unless necessary.

“You are safe with us, I promise. Like, who the hell does he think he is?” Seungmin whined, throwing a piece of fries into his mouth.

You and Felix shared a bewildered look while you inched the plate of fries closer to Seungmin and Felix moved his glass of coke away from him. Chan’s sudden appearance during school lunch today was rather abrupt and Seungmin just wasn’t having any of it for some reason, but since none of you were telling him to leave, neither did he.

And here you three were, with three fast food meal on the tea table in his home, listening to Seungmin rant on and on about his problems.

Seungmin reached out to slap Felix’s hand before he snatched the glass of coke and slurped it down his throat, a frown on his face, “God, I’m so glad I can be alone for the whole week. Hey, do you two wanna come over and have a sleepover? I just learned how to make symbols with smoke, we just need like… a bag of cigarette–what.”

Seungmin paused when the doorknob moved and the door swung open to show his mother. He breathed out an annoyed sigh, unsure if he had jinxed himself or if his mother had been lying to him about the duration of her unreliable business trips.

“Why are you here again?” He asked, sipping his cola.

Mrs.Kim rolled her eyes at him, “We finished our job earlier than usual.

She walked over the put her bag down on the dining table as usual. Felix found it oddly terrifying how her posture and her movements were exactly the same as the last time he saw her walk through the door. Everything about her was far too precise and robotic to be real.

Sneering a little, she asked with utter disinterest, “The boss gave us some tea bags for compensation, want me to make some for you three? It’s better than those junk you three were eating.”

“Oh, we’re just about to leave–”

“Like last time? Do you hate me that much, Felix?” Mrs.Kim said, turning over to eye Felix, “Auntie Kim have known you since you were five, there is nothing to hide.”

Felix was rendered speechless. He shrunk back against his seat in defeat and looked at his friend for help, but Seungmin only rolled his eyes, “Whatever you want, mom.”

It took her a little while to come back out with a tray and a traditional tea set. She elegantly placed the cups before all three of you and took one for herself, sipping it once before putting it back down on the tea table. You three watched her with caution, looking at her as she moved back to her bag to fumbled through something.

“Stop looking at me and drink the tea. Did the school not teach you manners?”

You three cleared your throats and grabbed the cup. Seungmin blew at the surface before he took a sip, letting the warm liquid go down his throat and calming his nerves. You watched as Felix took a sip too before you drank the whole cup.

It burned. The tea burned like hell.

Felix widened his eyes when you puked out whatever was in your mouth. Seungmin, having seen the light sparkle of silver powder in the remaining cup of tea you drank, immediately knew it was his mother’s doing. Quickly turned to the dining table to cast a spell, but before he could do so, a hand wrapped around his throat tightly and prevented him from neither speaking nor thinking clearly.

Felix widened his eyes at the sight of Mrs.Kim and attempted to make a lung for his friend but her arm shot out towards his direction and all he could see was the barrel of a gun pointed at him, and all he could do was pause in fright.

You coughed out in pain, the burning sensation of silver still trailing past your chest but you were healed up rather quickly. When you stood up, all you could see was both of your best friends being put in a tough position: Seungmin with his throat squished and Felix with his head to a gun.

“My son, my lovely son,” Mrs.Kim spoke with an eerie tone, “I don’t know if I’m glad you made it so much easier for me to kill (Name) or sad that you could ever use a spell on your own mother. Oh, wait, I know. I am disappointed.”

Felix looked at his best friend, his hands trembling.

“You were just like your useless father. Running around thinking humans can live with the supernaturals? They will eat us all alive before we know it, you idiots,” Mrs.Kim spat, “I was glad I killed him, that was one less weak person walking on the face of Earth.”

Felix’s jaw dropped, his chest aching for his best friend whose assumption was absolutely correct, utterly spot on.

“And you, (Name),” she finally turned to you, a small smile on her face, “You got lucky, didn’t you? My ex-husband gave his life saved your pathetic one yet here you are, still under the hands of me. Should have taken the second chance and left when you had the chance but you wanted to be here, with your little friends, didn’t you?”

She paused for a moment, her eyes sparkling with joy when she tilted her head with amusement. “Oh, I know what will be fun,” she squeezed Seungmin’s neck tighter, causing him to whimper desperately for air, and then she cocked her gun, making Felix wince. “Pick one, (Name). Pick one to save.”

God, you three just jinxed everything you’ve ever said, huh?

Your eyes glowed gold and your claws appeared when you smelt the fear circulating the room, especially when they were mixing in with the sweet scents of your two best friends. Your protective instinct was on and you wanted to do nothing more but kill the woman standing before you.

“No you don’t, I can kill your two little buddies faster than you can come at me. Come on, humor Auntie Kim here,” she giggled, “Pick one, (Name). Pick, Argenti.”

Seungmin looked skyward, tears threatening to fall. He knew who you were going to choose and surprisingly, he was rather okay with the choice. He wouldn’t know if he could handle it if another person died and to have him be the cause of it all.

And Felix, sweet sweet Felix. He glanced at Seungmin and back at you, his lips quivering in fear as his mind ran miles to think of anything. Seungmin had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. They were inseparable and they hit it off way too well the first time they met each other. This wasn’t a decision for him to make but he knew what he would have chosen if it was between him and Seungmin.

He turned around to look at you with tear eyes, widening his eyes and shifting it towards Seungmin. You glanced at him with rejection, shaking your head since you had already decided you would refuse Mrs.Kim’s terrible offer and simply give yourself up instead.

“Don’t make googly eyes at each other when I’m talking!” Mrs.Kim shouted impatiently.

Your chest heaved when she took a step towards Felix, her grip loosening a little on Seungmin as her mind was focused on threatening the other boy instead. Out of pure rage and alert, you quickly jumped ahead towards her in hopes to defend Felix.

Seungmin’s eyes widened when he heard a shot fired and he turned quickly to catch a glimpse of your falling body and a blood red stain through your heart. Felix was already throwing himself towards your direction, confirming that he wasn’t seeing things. His mother did shoot you in the heart, leaving a fatal injury.

“Come on, (Name), please heal, you have to heal,” Felix said after he dropped to the ground to hold you up. He pressed his hand to your heart, tears falling down his face and onto yours in a pit of haziness.

This couldn’t be. You were just holding him yesterday. You three were just eating and laughing together a few minutes ago. He was still looking at you with so much love and so much fondness a mere minute ago.

What happened?

You shook your head tiredly, feeling the silver bullet poison every root of your nerve from the start to the end. It was draining your energy.

Seungmin opened his mouth to scream after seeing the sight but only a growl fell off his lips as he placed his hands around his mother’s wrist and chanted quickly. She yelled in pain at the dislocation of her shoulder and her grip on Seungmin’s throat completely loosened. When that happened, Seungmin chanted with his hands out the throw his mother across the room, banging her back against the wall and making her lose her consciousness.

It was about a couple of seconds, maybe ten tops.

But when Seungmin turned around, all he could see was your lifeless body being cradled by a sobbing Felix. He panted helplessly, slumping down on the couch with a blank mind.

“They died… they…” Felix stuttered out, “They just d–died.”

Your last words circled his mind.

“It’s okay, I planned this.” You told him. “I love you both enough…”

He knew what you were going to say, and he knew Seungmin could help you finish your sentence too.

_Enough to kill myself so I won’t have to kill either of you._

* * *

Seungmin headed over to Felix’s house after that day. Felix’s mother was understanding enough to let him stay over for as long as he wanted after his mother was arrested for attempted murder on both of them. The two boys hid your body before they called the police, not wanting to cause even more misunderstanding and confusion with everyone still under the impression that you were Hana’s cousin.

Days went by far too slowly. Seungmin realized no matter how many times it happens, even though something like this only happened to him once, there was no pass for the grieving process just because he’s been through it once and supposedly had an experience to how it works.

He was still devastated, but Felix—Felix was in pain, constant emotional pain over the lack of your presence anywhere. Everything about you just completely pulled him apart.

It was as if it still hadn’t occurred to him what exactly happened. He didn’t want to believe it and it brought him to tears every single time he thought about how much he loves you and how everything was set and done for him. He was done, everything was done.

He loved you.

“I think we should…” Seungmin said softly as he patted Felix’s back, the green journal in his other hand, “I think we should put an end to this at least. Do you think you can try and describe their features to me? I just thought you would have a better knowledge of them than I do.”

Felix does. He remembered every single brilliant feature of yours, from the dazzling smile to the expressive eyebrows. He remembered everything, it was like you were etched into him like a disease he could remember you with his eyes closed.

So tell him why it felt unreal and unrecognizable when the balcony door was knocked on and he turned his head over to find you standing outside, shivering in the cold.

Felix bolted out of his bed and opened the door. When there was nothing else between you two, he pulled you close to him to feel your body, to see if you were real. He breathed out a sigh when he touched you but his brows furrowed at how cold you were.

“Little Doe?” Seungmin asked, sitting up on the bed.

You smiled up at him, “Hey, Seungmin.”

This was surprising. Last time they saw you were in the woods, putting you back underground. Did someone pull you back up again?

“Chan pulled me back up when he heard me screaming in the woods,” you explained, with Felix clinging onto you like a koala bear and you absolutely letting him do it. “Remember full moon when he… vampire whooshed in and pinned me to the tree?”

Seungmin shook his head, “No, I was busy not wanting to give you a terrible aneurysm.”

You laughed and Felix sighed, burying his head to your belly as you ran your hand soothingly through his hair. Seungmin rolled his eyes a little at the sight but he decided he would give Felix a pass this time.

“I bit Chan and my tongue drew some of his blood, which was what brought me back to life. It was his vampiric blood that reformed me after I died and turned me into…” you shrugged, “A hybrid.”

Felix raised his head, trying to process this, “So you are basically like… vampire and werewolf merged into one?”

“Yeah, Felix, that’s what a hybrid means,” Seungmin rolled his eyes.

You nodded, leaning back against the bed, “Yeah. Basically that.”

Seungmin breathed out a sigh then, still completely in a daze and trying to process the situation. It was not every day he got to see his best friend get killed in front of him and see them again after a few weeks being a completely different creature.

“Damn, maybe Chan is quite an okay guy,” Seungmin mumbled.

“He is,” you nodded, “He got me through the whole turning process. He made sure I don’t want to suck your blood off when I come to see you guys one more time.”

Seungmin squinted his eyes with a smile, “Don’t worry, I will just give you migraine again. But maybe stronger this time because I am not sure how strong you’ve gotten since I last saw you.”

You sucked in a breath, “Chan was able to pin me to a tree when I was a very angry werewolf under the influence of the full moon. Maybe a little weaker than that because Chan is way older than me.”

Seungmin nodded.

He still did not know how strong you were.

“I am glad you’re back,” Seungmin said after a moment of silence, looking at you happily. “I really thought I lost another loved one in my life.”

You laughed, “You wish you can get rid of me that easily.”

“Well, I think Felix over here is going to explode if I don’t let you two be alone for the night so I am gonna go,” Seungmin said, hopping off the bed. When he approached the door, he turned around and threw you two a wink, “Keep it down, kids.”

That was really uncalled for.

You rolled your eyes when he turned off the lights and left. And then it was just you and Felix.

“Hey, Felix,” you whispered, deciding to shift your position until you were face to face with him on the mattress of his bed. His eyes were half-opened and filled with brimming tears, and there was nothing else you could do but soften at the way he gently leaned into your touch as you touched his palm. “Felix…”

“I missed you,” he croaked out, his deep voice giving away, “So much.”

You nodded, “I missed you too.”

“And I am still in love with you,” he confessed, “Even after I thought you were gone. I still loved you so much.”

You inhaled shakily, your very heart quivering at the way he poured out his love for you in words. Scooting closer to him, your thumb stroked his cheek a few times before you leaned in to press your lips against his. Felix’s eyes fluttered close at your action and his hand reached for your waist as his mouth moved with yours.

You could perfectly hear his beating heart, pumping with every tingly sensation your lips were giving him as you passionately smothered him with everything you’ve got, granting him a lifetime of fulfillment with just a simple melt of your lips, giving him everything he had ever wanted.

And all he ever wanted was you.

* * *

Vampires were not as stealthy as Felix thought they were, or maybe he was just way too sensitive nowadays. He could feel the emptiness on his bed, the place where you were supposed to be, early in the morning. And he panicked, he really panicked at the lack of your presence.

Willing it to not be a dream, he rushed downstairs after knocking loudly on Seungmin’s door and quickly headed outside the house to find you just leaving with Chan trailing not too far in front of you. Felix shook his head in confusion but he still called your name, and when you paused rigidly, he could tell something was wrong.

Seungmin rubbed his groggy eyes when he stumbled out of the house and they widened when he saw Felix running towards you. He inwardly frowned a little but decided it would be best for him to follow along.

“I was going to tell you yesterday but you were so… I couldn’t say it to your face so I thought maybe if I just left without saying anything, it would be better for the three of us!”

Seungmin blinked his eyes then, trying to understand the conversion he overheard mid-way. He crossed his arms, glared at Chan who came to stand by you, and asked, “What are you saying?”

“(Name) is leaving, with him!” Felix said, jabbing a finger at Chan accusingly. “Why?”

“Because it isn’t safe for them here–”

“Like hell you know!”

“Hey! Last time you refused my offer, they died and you two were held hostage. I don’t see why you two would provide much assistance to their safety,” Chan retorted, “Nor do I see how you two won’t be put in the same situation again if your mother’s family is to come back because of what you two deiced to do!”

Felix clamped his mouth shut, knowing it was no use to talk to Chan, he turned his attention to you instead. Stepping up to you, he started, “Look, (Name), look at me. I can’t force you to stay, you know that. You are far strong than me, Chan is far stronger than me. You can just push me away and run. And that scares me, that really scares me.”

You pursed your lips together, your heart aching at how fast Felix was spatting his words out all just to keep you from making a decision you have already made far long before he had the chance to interfere.

“You’ve scared me many times before, (Name)! You really have! From the first day I met you, to when you were all crazy during the full moon, and when you… uh… when you ran away from the sheriff station, and when–when you died,” he gulped, “You scared me many times before but this, right now, telling me you are leaving this place for good? This scares me the most.”

Because you were making a decision. You didn’t get your life stripped out of you. You chose to leave this place, to leave him.

But you had to. Going back to the roots of things, you were the reason why Seungming’s mother did what she did to the two of them. If you weren’t here in the first place, if you hadn’t been discovered by them, none of this would have happened.

Seungmin wouldn’t have to find out about the truth behind his father’s death, lose a mother, get his throat clenched so hard his tears blinded his sight. And Felix would have never fallen in love with you, he would still believe that crushes never stick, he would have never been put in the head of a gun.

Everything would have been normal, better, if you were never here.

You turned around to look at Chan, nodding at him. The interaction between you two confused Felix but when you went over to him and grabbed his head in your hands, he knew the difficult swirling behind your eyes meant something different than what he had planned.

“Wait–”

“It’s not going to hurt, I promise,” you said, looking into Felix’s eyes and activating the vampiric compulsion. Your hand clutched his for dear life, feeling his touch until the last moment. “From today on, (Name) is no longer a name you know of. You never went to the forest that day and you never found a body. You have only ditched school that day, that was why your mother was mad at you.”

Seungmin’s brows furrowed when Chan twisted his memories with his words, changing every single thing you three have ever been through into something different, earning his memories until you no longer exist in their mind. His hands tightened on Chan’s wrist as his eyes glowed a shade of bright red, finding himself unable to say anything in return even after he watched the both of you ran away within the speed of lightning.

Even after Felix rubbed his head in confusion and asked him why they were out in the street with their pajamas on, he couldn’t say anything.

Not about what happened, and not about how a vampire’s compulsion doesn’t work on witches and warlocks.

* * *

Little Doe.

You dreaded that nickname but you never did dread the person who says it.

You turned around in the busy street of Seoul. Within the midst of people, you found Seungmin standing not too far away from you, surprisingly looking like he was still in his early twenties even after a century had passed.

He took the widening of your eyes as a signal that he did find the right person and he pursed his lips to keep the tears from falling down his cheeks. He marched over to you, wanting nothing more but to blast you with a fireball for all the things you’ve put him through simply by leaving him and Felix that day.

He never knew keeping secrets and pretending nothing ever happened were such hard tasks to do, but he had a taste of it and he had concluded that he would never want to try it again.

“You good for nothing piece of shit, you bitch, you fucking asshole!” He called, hitting your on the chest repeatedly despite knowing very well none of it hurt you one bit. Seungmin paused after a moment, taking a good look of your face, of his best friend’s face, and he just completely broke down.

You hugged him back immediately when he slumped into your embrace, sobbing gently.

“I missed you so much, it was so hard without anyone with me,” he said, his voice wavering with every syllable he spoke.

You patted his head, facing ahead of you, at the people in the street, “I’m sorry… do you want to go sit down and talk?”

And so you two did. After getting some bread and coffee, you brought him to a park and sat down on the bench, the place where you usually meet up with Chan. And you two simply caught up on life, on everything.

Seungmin talked about how he came to learn about his immortality. Every warlock and witches have their own specialty. Some were born psychic, some were born with great magical intellect, and some like him were born with immortality.

He went on his life with Felix, who remembered absolutely nothing but constantly had a hollow feeling in his chest whenever he laid in his bed alone or when he walked around the woods to calm his mind. And when Felix passed away many years after, he still lived with the best health and magic at the tip of his fingers.

He set out to find you then because, over the course of the past years, Seungmin had made zero effort at making an actual friend. He was too busy trying to find a cure of vampiric compulsion—he failed miserably—and taking care of Felix to do anything else.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” you said, “I really thought it was the best thing I could do for you. I was… too dumb to realize how much damage I was going to cause you.”

Seungmin sighed slowly, taking a sip of his coffee. “It was… it was in the past. We should both get over it, we have too much time ahead of us to dwell over something like this. Oh, but I do have something to give you.”

He reached into his bag and pulled out a shirt. Unfolding it, you saw that it was a graduation shirt filled with encouraging words and sloppy signatures with colored pencils. He handed it to you, “Just thought you might want to say something to him if you were there during his high school graduation.”

You took the shirt, smiling fondly as the image of a young Felix popped up in your head. You nodded at Seungmin, “I would have told him a lot of things.”

“I tried my best to tell him everything you would have,” Seungmin said, “Not the whole I am in love with you part and the smooching part though, that would be a little weird.”

You giggled, bringing the shirt up to your nose.

There was still a faint scent of lavender, a faint scent of Felix.

It was all you could ask for. It was all you have the right to ask for.

“Thank you, Seungmin,” you smiled, looking at him, “I really thought I was never gonna see any of you again and the thought broke me, genuinely.”

Seungmin smacked his lips in the cold, nodding. He sat closer to you then, putting his arm around your shoulder as you leaned your head on his shoulder. Both of you had the same idea in your head: you two have both grown a lot, and you two were probably going to stay with each other for a very, very long time.

“You wish you can get rid of me that easily,” he said jokingly, patting your head.

And you laughed. Nuzzling your face in the crook of his neck, you habitually sniffed.

Oh.

Seungmin smelt like lavender too.


End file.
